Do you have yellowed, discolored, or stained teeth? Try professional teeth whitening treatment. At Hope Restorative and Cosmetic Dentistry, we offer two options for teeth whitening. Take-home teeth whitening in our Tulsa, OK office enables you to whiten your teeth in the privacy of your own home.
KöR teeth whitening only requires one appointment at our office. Dr. Jerome Cha provides professional teeth whitening, a cosmetic dental treatment that improves the smile’s aesthetics.
What Causes Tooth Stains?
If you have yellow or stained teeth but don’t know the cause of your discoloration, you can stain your teeth in multiple ways:
- Foods and Drinks: Highly pigmented foods and drinks, including coffee, wine, tea, soy sauce, berries, and tomato-based sauces, can stain teeth. The dyes in these foods and drinks enter the tooth’s pores.
- Dental Trauma: If you chip or crack a tooth, it may change color. Injury to the blood vessels in the tooth can make it appear grey or brown.
- Tobacco: If you smoke, vape, or use other tobacco products, you’re likely aware of how tobacco can stain your fingers. Tobacco also easily turns the teeth yellow.
- Aging: Over time, natural tooth wear, medication side effects, and other sources stain teeth. As the outer layer of the tooth, called the enamel, wears down and exposes dentin. This underlayer appears darker than the enamel.
Benefits of Teeth Whitening
Store-bought teeth whitening kits, toothpaste, and other treatments are often not enough to change your tooth color. When they do work, over-the-counter whitening products can also deliver inconsistent results.
Professional teeth whitening offers many benefits over store-bought options:
- Effective Treatment: Whitening treatments like KöR take multiple steps to ensure you get the best results possible. Teeth whitening lifts stains from the enamel and changes tooth color up to sixteen shades.
- Long-lasting results: Professional teeth whitening can last many months. Touch-up treatments also extend whitening results.
- Comfortable treatment: Sensitive teeth and gums are concerns for many patients considering teeth whitening treatment. We use desensitizing gel to reduce the risk of negative reactions to strong whitening ingredients.
Professional Take-Home Teeth Whitening in Tulsa, OK
One of the simplest ways to quickly improve the beauty and youthful appearance of your smile is through professional take-home teeth whitening.
We generally start with an examination and cleaning to ensure everything is healthy and ready for the strong bleaching chemical. From there, we make an impression of your teeth to create snug-fitting trays that fit exactly.
When your trays are ready, we provide tubes of bleaching gel for you to take home. Simply place the gel in your trays and wear them at a convenient time at home for at least 20 minutes each day. Some people prefer to wear them overnight. Most people see the results they were hoping for in just a couple of weeks.
When you wear the trays with the whitening gel, your teeth absorb the gel, which contains peroxide. The peroxide releases oxygen. In turn, it oxidizes the stains and pigment molecules in your teeth. The more you use the gel, the more oxidation occurs, giving you a dazzling white smile.
This is a permanent process. However, life will continue to impart new stains on your teeth, especially if you drink coffee or smoke. But your teeth will always be whiter than they would have been. You may want to periodically do a “touch-up” every year or two to remove the new stains. If you keep your trays, this is a simple process of just picking up more gel.
KöR Deep Bleaching™
KöR can be one of the most effective teeth whitening systems that use in-office and take-home treatments. Your teeth can get up to 16 shades lighter with KöR. KöR does what other brands can’t—significantly improve fluorosis and tetracycline stains.
Before treatment, we’ll give you a rejuvenating gel to condition and hydrate your teeth and help the bleaching gel penetrate deeply.
Over the next few days, your teeth will get brighter, and the color will stabilize. We’ll give you a desensitizing gel to apply to your teeth daily to ensure you feel little or no sensitivity.
How Does it Work?
First, we will take digital impressions of your teeth and make custom bleaching trays. When the trays are ready, we’ll apply a rejuvenating and conditioning gel to your teeth.
For the next 14 days, you will use the trays, desensitizing gel, and bleaching gel at home. We will also give you instructions on how long to wear the trays daily.
After your at-home sessions, you’ll have an appointment for in-office treatment. Dr. Cha will coat your gums with a protective gel and apply the KöR bleaching gel to your teeth for a blast of whitening.
KöR provides brilliant but natural-looking results. You’ll keep your smile bright with periodic touch-ups at home.
Alternatives To Teeth Whitening
Tooth stains are intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic stains collect within the tooth. Typically, tooth damage or medication side effects can cause these stains.
Extrinsic stains lie on the tooth surface. These stains occur when you smoke or eat and drink foods and beverages that stain your teeth.
If you have tooth intrinsic stains, we may recommend restorative and cosmetic treatments that change your tooth color. Our office can color-match these treatments to the shade of your natural teeth:
- Veneers: Dental veneers are thin shells of porcelain to cover the front of teeth. We can cover a single discolored tooth or all teeth that show when you smile.
- Bonding: Teeth bonding treatment uses tooth-colored composite to change the color and shape of teeth. Bonding can cover chipped, cracked, and stained teeth.
- Crowns: Dental crowns are caps that fully cover teeth. We recommend crowns if you have worn and discolored teeth. Crowns add structure to your natural teeth while changing your tooth color.
Brighten Your Teeth Today
Do you want a brighter, whiter smile? Call Hope Restorative and Cosmetic Dentistry for teeth whitening in Tulsa, OK, today at 918-347-1114. Feel free to schedule a dental appointment in our office today.
If you have any questions about whitening treatment, let us know at your next visit. We’ll be happy to help.