At-Home Teeth Whitening Bellingham

Who Is a Good Candidate for Teeth Whitening?

If you want to use cosmetic dentistry to transform your smile, the first step is to figure out what kind of treatment is right for you. At-home whitening can be an option worth considering when your smile is discolored in some way, no matter how many or how few teeth are affected.

Naturally, we’ll ask about your smile goals when you first visit our office to ask about at-home whitening. However, we’ll also need to take a look at your teeth and gums. It’s not advisable to have cosmetic dentistry done if you have gum disease or another oral health problem. We’ll let you know if any preliminary procedures are needed to protect your smile. Once your teeth and gums are in good shape again, we can discuss having teeth whitening done.

How Does Take-Home Teeth Whitening Work?

The professional whitening kits we offer have two main features. The first is the number of trays that are designed to fit comfortably on your specific teeth. The second is bleaching gel containing ingredients that are highly effective when it comes to removing different types of dental stains.

After filling the trays with bleaching gel, you need to put them in your mouth and wear them for a certain number of hours. You’ll do this every day while undergoing the treatment. After a short amount of time (usually around two weeks), you’ll be able to look in the mirror and see for yourself how the shade of your smile has improved.

Tips for Maintaining Your Brighter Smile

How can you keep your revitalized smile looking gorgeous after teeth whitening? The results may not last forever, but you can preserve them for a very long time if you follow these tips:

• Be careful about what you eat or drink. Soy sauce, dark berries, soda, coffee, wine, and tea are all known to stain enamel.
• Keep your teeth clean. Brush with fluoride-based toothpaste, floss to remove bacteria from hard-to-reach spaces, and don’t forget to rinse with mouthwash.
• Stay away from bad dental habits. Smoking is a particularly notable example of a habit that can leave stains on your teeth.
• Visit your dentist at least once every six months so that they can examine and clean your teeth. You can also ask them about touching up the results of your whitening.

Understanding the Cost of Teeth Whitening 

If you’ve never had any kind of cosmetic work done before, teeth whitening is an excellent place to start. However, patients embarking upon this kind of dental work for the first time may find that they’re concerned about paying for care that isn’t going to be covered by insurance. Whitening kits do come over the counter, however the strength of the OTC bleaching solution is limited, meaning it will take longer to achieve the same result compared to professional strength whitening. Among the options at Young Dental, we offer custom trays that can be paired with one of many bleaching solutions customized for your case. In addition, we offer single-use trays that may be more appropriate depending on the case.

Here’s what you should know about budgeting for teeth whitening.

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Factors that Affect the Cost of Teeth Whitening

Typically, any teeth whitening procedure that you get will be offered at a set price, so the primary variable that will affect the cost of this care is how many rounds of treatment are necessary. This depends on a few factors, like the amount of discoloration that is present. There’s also the issue of whether your tooth’s color comes from stains on top of the tooth or from within the tooth itself. The latter tends to be harder to deal with.

We also wouldn’t recommend teeth whitening if you’re dealing with any serious oral health problems, so if you need fillings or gum disease therapy, you should also incorporate that into the cost of teeth whitening.

Finally, some dental filling or crown materials in your mouth will not be affected by bleaching. If there is a tooth or teeth that are especially discolored due to old filling material, those fillings or crowns may need to be replaced.

Effective Teeth Whitening VS Inexpensive Teeth Whitening 

If you’re looking to get whiter teeth on the cheap, you may be tempted to pursue the DIY options listed above. However, you may want to hear a little bit about what you’re missing out on.

When you get professional teeth whitening, you’ll be under our supervision. This allows us to check for any oral health problems that could cause complications for your procedure. You could wind up in a fair amount of pain due to untreated sensitivities, tooth decay, or gum disease.

These OTC (over the counter) kits also aren’t as effective as what we would give you, which means that you may not be able to achieve the color you’re looking for. With our whitening treatments, we can guarantee not only your safety, but your results as well.

Options For Making Teeth Whitening Affordable

That said, it’s completely understandable to be concerned about the cost of treatment, which is why we offer methods of making the care you receive from us more affordable.

We accept financing through CareCredit, a firm that offers six-month-no-interest plans to patients who qualify, in addition to a host of other terms for those who need more time to pay.

With these flexible financing options at your fingertips, we’ll be able to help you get excellent dentistry no matter your budget.