Friendly Teeth

Bleaching teeth is the hot new service available in Dental Clinics. There are many, many systems available. The one we use in this clinic is Zoom! Bleaching System which is the bleaching system of choice in many countries like Australia, Singapore and Thailand.

What is whitening or bleaching?

Whitening teeth is when a gel-like substance is placed on your teeth which oxidises the surface so it appears whiter or brighter. It is actually bleaching… because the active ingredient is usually a bleach.

There are many, many types of whitening products these days. Most are professional whitening systems, which are carried out by the dentist, and there are also home-use remedies, which you can buy off the shelf and use on yourself at home.

The main difference is in the formulation/content of the gel-like mixture. The professional systems are of much higher concentrations than those in the home use packages.

The reason why this is so is because of several factors….

So why should you do bleaching in a dental clinic instead of at home?

Firstly, the patient would be examined for cavities (holes), cracked teeth and leaking fillings, at the very start of the treatment as any teeth that require attention need to be attended to first! Imagine placing a bleach on an exposed tooth … it could be potentially very painful and /or damage the tooth even more! This is a very, very important first step which is done by the dentist.

Most people are unfortunately afraid of dentists, and avoid visiting one, so manufacturers of home-use products, very prudently, only put in a mild formulation that doesn’t have an active cycle that lasts long, (it degrades and becomes harmless in minutes) to avoid problems as much as possible.

In short, your home bleaching system is way milder than an in-house system so you really can’t get as good a result fast.

It’s safer too!
Secondly, the home-use formulation is usually placed in a ’stock tray’, a standard sized u-shaped tray that you place the gel in, then fit in your mouth, to hold the gel onto the teeth. These trays do not exactly fit your teeth unlike those trays custom-made for you by the dentist, so the trays will leak out the mixture.

Quite a bit of the home-use mixture will most probably be swallowed so it has to be a rather mild concentration to be safe to sell over-the-counter and hence, probably used unsupervised at home.

What happens during the bleaching appointment

In the dentist’s office, the patient would be examined, then a scaling and polishing may be done first.

After the cleaning, the initial colour of the teeth is recorded and the desired final colour is agreed upon.

Only then does the procedure really start, as the patient will need to have their gums protected by a special barrier first. I mean, you want your teeth bleached right …. not your gums and tongue!

The whitening mixture is prepared and immediately placed on the teeth … this is very closely timed and the concentration of the gel mixtureis measured out exactly. The dentist then usually passes either a plasma light (a very high intensity light) or uses a ultra violet (UV) light source, which further activates the release of oxygen from the mixture.

It is the oxygen released from the mixture, that when in contact with your teeth, that causes the whitening effect. The Zoom! plasma light is so bright we protect your eyes with a special pair of glasses throughout the process … and we wear them too, as you always have someone next to you throughout the whole process!!

All this is done under very strict supervision and when the appropriate time is over, the bleach mixture is very carefully suctioned off so you don’t swallow it.

The whole thing is repeated a few times … for Zoom! you can have 3 cycles and one more additional for really stubborn teeth!

Strict control is excercised throughout the procedure

In-clinic procedures have very strict control, which is exercised routinely. Everything is carefully controlled from the protection your gums from the bleach, the concentration of the mixture, the length of time it is placed on your teeth and the suctioning off of all the mixture after each application.

Once the shade you wanted is reached (or with Zoom! Bleaching System, three or four cycles are completed), the dentist will remove the barrier over the gums and treat the gums with Vitamin E to sooth it.

What to do after the bleaching is completed.
Usually we advise the patient to stay away from food and drink that may stain the teeth, for at least a day. Usually 24 hours will be more than sufficient for the teeth to remineralise (natural minerals replaced on the bleached surface) from your saliva, after that, eating and drinking things like coffee and coke, would be fine.

Zoom! now recommends that you keep away from highly coloured food and drink for only TWO hours! There is also a gel which is supplied, that we apply to help with the fast remineralization of the tooth surfaces that were treated too.

In short …. whitening can be a complicated procedure, that’s why it can take up to an hour or longer, especially when we spend a lot of time preparing you first and also making you comfortable after the bleaching process.

I would strongly recommend doing it in-clinic with a dentist supervising the whole procedure!

Why Zoom! Bleaching System is my recommendation

We use the Zoom! Bleaching System as I find it the most advanced, reliable and patient friendly …. patients don’t complain of too much sensitivity immediately after the procedure.

Another BIG plus for Zoom! is that each kit has absolutely everything in it: a disposable mouth guard and lip protector, plenty of desensitizers, loads of Vitamin E and each cycle is controlled by your personal microchip which controls the plasma light so it is impossible to overdo the process …. the timing is absolutely controlled!!!!

Since the Zoom! Bleaching Kit comes with everything you possibly need in it, everything is used once then thrown away! Wow! Now that’s what I call a totally personal system so necessary these days when we DON’T WANT cross infections.

I personally think the Zoom! Bleaching System is the best in the market at this moment. The best part is the cost … it’s less than half the cost in Australian Dollars!!

The procedure is RM1700, you will get

1. a full scaling free (worth RM100),
2. the option of 4 15-minute cycles (that’s an added boost from the usual 3 cycles),
3. the Before and After photos in a specially designed Makeover Album (I don’t know of any other clinic that gives this),

To make sure your smile stays super dazzling, you can get a Brite Smile toothpaste that stops new stains from taking hold on your newly whitened teeth (its RM80 and only available in selected dentist’s offices)

Please click on this post ‘A Makeover for Jeevan’ for a story on a bleaching we did recently.

To place questions on Bleaching, click here to leave a comment on the Discussion Page on Dentist Malaysia … then others can read the thread easily. Thanks!!