Deep Bleaching™
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What You Need to Know
"Fast Bleaching," also known as "Laser" or "Sapphire Crystal" bleaching has been shown to be most effective when combined with an at-home tray-bleaching technique. The Deep Bleaching™ technique combines several techniques and is thought to be the most effective teeth whitening technique known today. The Deep Bleaching™ technique appears to get teeth significantly whiter than ever before possible. Patients who previously were unable to bleach as white as they would have liked (because of "bleaching-resistant teeth") can now have significantly whiter teeth.
The first session of Deep Bleaching™ will begin with a bleaching in our office, which will "condition" the teeth to absorb oxygen more readily from the bleaching gel in your at-home bleaching trays. Do not expect a tremendous color change from this "conditioning" visit. Immediately following the "conditioning visit," at-home trays will be worn for 14 consecutive nights. After the 14th night of at-home deep-bleaching, the final Deep Bleaching™ will be done in our office, and will provide significant additional whitening over what will already be apparent to you. The results will be surprising.
If your final appointment is longer than 14 days from your first bleaching/conditioning appointment, continue bleaching at home until your final Deep Bleaching™ visit.
Bleaching of the teeth with at-home trays is accomplished by wearing bleaching trays with bleaching gel in them. The trays are made of thin, clear, flexible vinyl. Most patients find these trays very comfortable to wear and to sleep with. You will see that the trays fit the teeth very well and that there is a gap (reservoir) on the outer side of each tooth except on the very last, back molars. These reservoirs will hold excess bleaching gel.
You will be given a bleaching kit. This kit will include several syringes of bleaching gel and a storage case for the bleaching trays.
When you are finished with the entire Deep Bleaching™ process, place any remaining bleaching gel syringes in the refrigerator to extend their shelf life.
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Teeth Whitening Theory
Everyone's teeth have a natural biological limit of how white they can get. Historically, once you reached this limit, no amount of additional bleaching could whiten your teeth more. However, the Deep Bleaching™ system will extend this previous limit and allow significantly more lightning.
The special Deep Bleaching™ technique of custom-made tray fabrication is one of the reasons that this method of Deep Bleaching™ works so well. The Deep Bleaching™ trays allow room for excess bleaching gel, and they seal it at the gum line. Often, trays fabricated in dental offices do not seal the bleach at the gum line to keep the bleach in place. The bleach is sucked and washed out of the tray by saliva very quickly, and very little depth of bleaching occurs.
You may have heard that certain types of over-the-counter bleaching gels have acid in them, which may damage feelings, crowns, bondings, and the roots of teeth. The whitening gel you will receive from our office has absolutely no acid whatsoever and will not damage teeth or restoration's.
In addition to whitening, oxygen also deep-cleans the teeth, removing microscopic debris from between the crystals of the structure. After bleaching, these " pores" are cleansed and open. These open pores have significant importance, which we will talk about later.
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What To Expect
Just before sleep, take two Aleve tablets (naproxen sodium). Aleve is an over-the-counter medication similar to that Advil (ibuprofen), but it lasts up to seven hours. Advil works well also, but does not last as long for over-night bleaching. The whitening gel and trays may cause temporary inflation of the teeth and gums, resulting in some soreness. Aleve and Advill are great anti-inflammatory medicines. This is very important to control the potential for inflammation and soreness.
You will start your bleaching immediately before sleep. If you usually lie in bed watching TV before sleeping, wait until you are ready to sleep before using your bleaching trays. Brush your teeth immediately before each bleaching session with Rembrandt Plus Toothpaste
(which contains an activity or slackening ingredient that helps steer the bleaching process.) It is important to brush immediately before bleaching because protein from your saliva will coat your teeth within minutes after brushing and could inhibit the bleaching agent from whitening your teeth as quickly. If you normally tend to have teeth that are sensitive to toothbrushing, cold, or sweet, use Rembrandt For Sensitive Teeth toothpaste instead. This will help de-sensitized your teeth before bleaching.
Squeeze a dab of bleaching gel into each reservoir on the gray in the inner side of the outer walls of the trays (except in the very last molars). We will demonstrate this for you during your next visit. The gel is thick and the trays are flexible, so the gel will cause the outer rim of the tray to be pushed away from the gum line. After you put the trays in you will need to firmly push the tray back against the teeth to established the seal of the tray at gum line--this is very important. We will also demonstrate this for you.
In the morning, after removing the trays, rinse your mouth with luke-warm water. Cold or hot water may be slightly uncomfortable to rinse with at that time. Clean the trays with Q-tips under cool running water.
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Your teeth and gums may become swollen and sensitive during the firt three or four days of bleaching. Taking Advil every 4 hours during the day will help this. This sensitivity usually decreases after the first three or four day.
You may notice that your teeth start to look "funny." They may even develop white spots. The area of the teeth near the gum line may look dark. This is just because the rest of the tooth will have become so light by comparison. Tooth color may look too opaque or chalky. Have no fear. This will all even-out during the final Deep Bleaching™ visit and the two weeks after you stop bleaching.
You may find that your lower teeth do not lighten as quickly as your upper teeth. This is because the lower teeth are smaller, the enamel is thiner, and the reservoirs smaller. Again, have no fear. The final Deep Bleaching™ visit will whiten them beautifully.
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Permanently Maintain Your New White Tooth Color
All natural teeth darken with time. This is normal. And what accelerates this darkening is abrasives in toothpaste. Imagine you have a car with a new, shiny white paint job, and you get some oil on the paint. Water alone won't get off the oil. If you're smart, you will use a very mild soap and water to dissolve the oil and leave the surface shiny.
But what if you used a kitchen cleanser like Comet or Ajax? Sure, that would get off the oil, but it would leave the paint dull. Not only would the paint be dull, it would accumulate dirt and stain quickly: after a year, the paint in this area would be darker because the surface roughness will allow stains to soak into the paint itself.
All major toothpastes do the same to your teeth--all but Rembrandt Toothpaste that is. All of the Rembrandt Toothpaste have very low abrasion yet remove stains better than any other toothpastes. Like the mild soap we talked about, Rembrandt uses a natural enzyme from the papaya fruit to dissolve away the stains from your teeth. Consequently, your teeth stay glossy on the surface and do not collect or absorb stains quickly. Rembrandt Plus Toothpaste has some additional benefits over the other Rembrandt Toothpaste. It has an actual bleaching agent in it to keep your teeth color stable. Starting now, Rembrandt should be the only toothpaste you ever use. Look for it in the toothpaste or tooth-whitening section at the pharmacy. Or you can order it directly from the company at 1-800-4Dental or on the Internet at the www.Rembrandt.com.
Additionally, you should wear the bleaching trays (while you sleep) at least one night every four months as additional protection against darkening. Wearing the trays one night every four months will keep your teeth a very stable color indefinitely. If you want to keep them at an even brighter white indefinitely, you may wear the bleaching trays more often.
If you just HAVE to have your teeth absolutely the whitest they can be indefinitely, you may bleach more often than one night every four months--you may even choose to bleach one night every month. Follow these instructions and your teeth should always stay white and bright.
As long as you use only the recommended that Rembrandt Plus Toothpaste, and use the bleach provided by us at least one night every four months, your teeth should never darken again.
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Other Important Information
During the two weeks of at-home bleaching, stay away from staining foods and drinks. Remember we mentioned that oxygen cleans out the pores of the teeth? We don't want staining to fill in these microscopic pores during bleaching. That would only reduce the success of bleaching. Any food or beverage which would permanently stain a white shirt or blouse, could also stain your teeth. If possible, when drinking a staining beverage, it may help to keep the beverage off the outer surface of your teeth by carefully drinking through a straw. Smoking should also be held to the very minimum during the bleaching process.
On your final Deep Bleaching™ visit, we will apply a glossy, clear protective coating on your teeth, and you will not need to avoid staining foods after that visit.
if possible, do not skip nights when bleaching we find that this slows down the whitening process.
Store your bleaching trays safely. Keep them in the case provided. Keep them away from heat--heat will distort them. Do not leave them in a hot car. Do not put or wash them in warm or hot water. Always keep them away from your dog: dogs seem to think that bleaching trays make wonderful chew-toys.
Most importantly, place the trays carefully in the case. When you shake the case, you should feel that the trays are loose in the case. If they're not, and they are being bent inside the case, this will distort and totally destroy the trays.
We know you are going to be thrilled with your Deep Bleaching™ whitening result, but only if you are able to comply with the above instructions--they are very important. If you have any problems or any questions, call us right away.
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