Beautiful Teeth / Bleaching
In today's society teeth-esthetics have become more and more meaningful. Beautiful teeth are often associated with success, vitality and attractiveness. A beautiful smile is largely influenced by teeth-esthetics and by the condition of the gums. In modern dentistry bleaching is a reliable and safe method to whiten teeth.
Page Content:
Description
• The Color of Teeth
• The Position of Teeth
• The Shape of Teeth
• The Condition of the Gums
Bleaching
Vital Preparations for the Bleaching-Treatment
Side Effects
• Hypersensitive
• Irritation of the gums
Description
Teeth-esthetics are mainly influenced by
The Color of Teeth
The original color of teeth is ivory-white, but influenced by old-age and individual tinges ranging from clear white to yellowisch, brownisch or even dark-grey. The original color of teeth is particularly affected by discolorations and devital teeth (root-treated teeth or teeth with died-off nerves).
Through bleaching discolored teeth can sucessfully be whitened again.
The Position of Teeth
The position of teeth may despite a beautiful shape and bright color of teeth make a beautiful smile impossible. An emerging defective position of teeth can be identified at early stage and should be corrected if massive consequences from an esthetic point of view can anticipated.
The Shape of Teeth
In most cases the shape of teeth only takes a minor role in teeth-esthetics. In extreme cases, such as cone teeth (stunted cone-like incisor in the upper jaw), the position of teeth influneces the overall appearance. The shape of teeth can be corrected with fillings, veneers or crowns. Normally veneers or ceramic crowns are used with demanding customers.
The Condition of the Gums
The condition of the gums is a central element of teeth-esthetics. Especially in cases where the gums are degenerated the teeth seem too long and make a beautiful smile impossible. Through surgery the position of the gums can be corrected. However, the results from such surgery is not always successful and can sometimes even be disapointing.
A beautiful smile is often associated with a "hollywood-smile" which is known to us from various actors or models from magazines. One should bear in mind however, that most hollywoodstars and starlets hat massive dental corrections performed on them. Quite often their teeth have not only been beautified with ceramic crowns or veneers, but also had orthopaedic jaw-surgery performed. In addition the color of a model's teeth presented in a magazine is often edited with editing software making their teeth seem a bright white.
Das Bleichen von Zähnen dient dazu, die Zahnfarbe von einzelnen Zähnen oder einer ganzen Zahnreihe aufzuhellen. Bleaching ist eine rein kosmetische Therapie, welche auf einer lokalen Anwendung von Wasserstoffperoxid oder Harnstoffperoxid beruht. Diese dringen in den Zahnschmelz und das darunterliegende Dentin ein und hellen den Zahn auf.
Bleaching
With bleaching single teeth or a whole series of teeth can be whitened.
"Home bleaching" und "in-office bleaching" sind externe Bleichverfahren.
Following technics are used to bleach vital (live) teeth:
- Home bleaching
Appliance by the patient himself at home - In-office bleaching
Appliance at the dentist
In case of devital teeth (root-teated teeth or teeth with died-off nerves) the teeth are bleached internally. Typical for devital teeth is their greyish discoloration. The area where the nerve of a tooth was originally located is opened and the bleaching appliance is directly inserted into the area of the former dental pulp. The bleaching appliance usually consists of 30% hydrogen peroxide-sodiumperborat solution which will remain in the dental pulp for a while. The success rate of such a treatment lies around 50-70% after five years. Occasionally complications may occur in the form of a resorption of the root (decomposition of a tooths root from the inside).
In severe cases the external and internal bleaching methods are often combined.
Vital Preparations for the Bleaching-Treatment
Before starting a bleaching treatment, it has to be ascertained that the teeth are not affected by any discolorations, dental calculus or plaque. This prerequisite can be achieved with professional cleaning at a dental hygienist. Already one appointment at a dental hygienist will lighten your teeth. In most cases a bleaching treatment will no longer be necessary.
- Bleaching hat auch Nebenwirkungen
Following facts are of great importance in connection with bleaching:
- Fillings and crowns can not be bleached
- Snow-white teeth appear unnatural. The teeth should be bleached by maximum two to three shades
- The results of a treatment are reversible, i.e., the tooth may in the course of time become darker again
- Good results are usually achieved with yellowish-brownish old-age discolorations
In any case a consultation with a dentist can be helpful and recommended.
Side Effects
The most common side effects resulting from bleaching are:
- Hypersensitivity to cold and heat
- Hypersensitivity to sweet and sour
- Irritation of the gums
Hypersensitive
Hypersensitive necks of teeth are the most common side effect of bleaching. This hypersensitivity is probably a result from a dehydration of the enamel respectively of the dentin. With suitable toothpastes however, the side effects may be minimized and reduced to a minimum.
Irritation of the gums
Irritation of the gums particularly occur in the form of chemical burns. These irritations however, are reversible and usually only last for a couple of days.
Until today no cases of lasting damage of the enamel, dentin, pulp or the gums have been observed as a result from bleaching. Recent research however, has detected a permanent change of the enamel's surface of bleached teeth. If those changes have any negative impact on teeth remains to be clarified.
