How to Keep Your Teeth White After Professional Teeth Whitening
Professional teeth whitening treatments are an investment in your smile's appearance, your confidence, your first impressions, and your look. Professional teeth whitening can take years off of your appearance while giving you a clean, fresh look and boosting your confidence. Professional whitening works much more quickly, safely, and effectively than over-the-counter whitening products to lift stains and discoloration from tooth enamel, brightening and whitening the smile. Plus, professional treatments help patients achieve the desired results and look in less time without any worry about the health and safety of their teeth.
While professional teeth whitening treatments are highly effective and whitening and brightening teeth, they do not prevent future stains and discoloration from occurring. Stains and discoloration happen naturally, and this means that, in order to maintain your brighter and whiter smile, you might need to have additional whitening treatments in the future. There are, however, a few things you can do to maintain your professional whitening results and keep your teeth whiter and brighter for longer after professional treatments.
The most common way tooth discoloration and staining occur is through exposure to highly pigmented foods and beverages, such as:
Avoiding these will help you keep your smile white and bright for longer after professional whitening treatments.
If you do consume a highly pigmented food or drink, rinse your mouth with water right away after eating or drinking. This will help to flush the pigments out of your mouth and help to limit the time that your tooth enamel is exposed to them.
Tobacco products of all kinds are notorious for staining the teeth. (They are also exceptionally bad for your overall health.) To maintain your bright, white smile, refrain from using any kind of tobacco products including cigarettes, vapes, chewing tobacco, and others.
The whitening agents contained in over-the-counter whitening products, such as toothpaste, are not as strong as those used in professional treatments. Whitening toothpaste, however, can help to keep your teeth whiter after professional treatments by lifting new stains as they are deposited each day.
For the safety of your tooth enamel and oral health, only use whitening toothpaste that has been approved by the American Dental Association.
Good oral hygiene habits help to lift and remove stains and discoloration on a daily basis. Be sure to brush your teeth for two minutes, twice a day, and floss at least once a day. In addition to keeping stains at bay, thorough at-home oral hygiene helps to prevent plaque and tartar (which can have a yellowish or brownish color) from building up on the surfaces of the teeth.
Accumulating plaque and tartar can also contribute to tooth discoloration. Visiting the dentist at least once every six months for a prophylaxis cleaning will help extend your professional whitening results. During these visits, a dental hygienist uses special tools to scale and polish the teeth to remove calculus (accumulated plaque and tartar) while also polishing away surface stains and discoloration from the tooth enamel.
At Grove City Smiles, we're proud to keep our patients' smiles healthy and beautiful with comprehensive preventative dentistry in addition to restorative and cosmetic services such as teeth whitening treatments. If you're interested in brightening and whitening your smile to create a more aesthetically pleasing look, we welcome you to contact our office in Grove City, Ohio to request an appointment today. We can help you determine the best way to create and maintain a more beautiful smile!
We look forward to meeting you. Call (614) 350-5300 or request an appointment online to set up your first visit. We’ll be in touch soon.
