When your smile has severe stains, you may think teeth whitening should be your first priority. No one wants to live with a grin that looks dirty if they can help it. Still, the better move is to treat any cavities before teeth whitening starts. Smile-brightening work has adverse effects on areas with untreated tooth decay. To learn more about these facts, let your Naples dentist explain in this helpful and informative summary.
How Does Teeth Whitening Work?
Before moving forward, you’ll need to know how teeth whitening works. You won’t understand why cavity treatment should come first otherwise.
Teeth whitening removes smile stains by using a special gel. When applied to tooth surfaces, this gel’s hydrogen peroxide seeps into and bleaches your enamel. The long-term effect is a set of teeth that look six, eight, or even ten shades brighter than before!
Overall, today’s teeth whitening comes in two different types. The first is an in-office treatment that only takes an hour to finish. On the other hand, the second kind is a take-home kit used for a two-week period.
Why Treat Cavities Before Whitening?
The whitening process is generally safe, but not for teeth with cavities. It tends to harm and irritate smiles suffering from severe tooth decay.
For better or worse, whitening gel’s hydrogen peroxide is pretty powerful stuff. This chemical can even irritate healthy teeth sometimes, causing mild sensitivity. Exposing cavities to such material would result in severe pain in your mouth. Worse yet, combining cavities and bleaching gel could permanently damage and ruin your smile.
It stands to reason you’d want to avoid such oral damage. That being the case, you should treat your cavities before you undergo any teeth whitening.
What Can Dentists Do to Help?
Naturally, dentists have various ways to treat cavities effectively. You can trust them to address your tooth decay before they brighten your smile.
Modern dentists rely on two procedures to fix cavities: tooth-colored fillings and dental crowns. With the former treatment, they “fill” the holes in your teeth with composite resin. The latter places a strong ceramic cap or “crown” on a tooth with an unfillable cavity. In doing so, the cap protects the decayed area and hides it from view.
When you treat cavities before teeth whitening, your smile benefits all the more. Keep that in mind as you pursue both procedures with your dentist.
About the Practice
Island Coast Dentistry is based in Naples, FL. Led by Dr. Jeffrey Skupny, our practice aims to give every patient a personalized dental experience. That means we tailor our preventive, cosmetic, and restorative treatments to your smile and its unique needs! Through this approach, our team can ensure you get the prettiest and healthiest teeth possible! For more details or to book a visit, please contact us on our website or by phone at (239)-261-5566.