Clothing and hair styles may come and go, but a dazzling smile is always in fashion! If you're considering options for perking up your appearance, brightening your pearly whites is a quick and affordable way to achieve eye-catching results.

You have several choices when it comes to teeth whitening. But to get the safest, most appropriate, and most satisfying results, you should start with a proper dental examination. A professional assessment of your oral health can determine the cause of your tooth discoloration and may reveal the need for a particular treatment before, or in addition to brightening the color of your teeth.

Brightening Options

When we talk about teeth whitening, we generally are referring to “bleaching,” which actually returns your teeth to their natural tooth color. A thorough cleaning — generally part of a routine checkup — often can remove surface discoloration/staining (such as coffee, tea, tobacco or red wine).

There are basically three approaches for external bleaching/whitening of your teeth. They vary based on the strength of the bleaching solution, method of application, duration of treatment, and cost considerations.

Professional In-Office Whitening. This approach involves the carefully controlled application by a dental professional of a powerful and fast-acting concentration of hydrogen peroxide gel. Professional whitening can achieve the most significant color change in the shortest amount of time, but it is pricier than the other options.

Professionally Dispensed Take-Home Whitening Kits. These include a lower-strength peroxide gel applied via flexible plastic bleaching trays custom made by our office specifically for your teeth. The tailored fit of the trays helps ensure an even and thorough coating. A more affordable option than the in-office procedure, it also requires more time to achieve similar results.

Over-the-Counter Products. These feature the lowest-concentration bleaching gel, which is applied to the teeth using one-size-fits-all trays or strips, or a paint-on applicator. While they are the least expensive option, they take the longest to achieve maximum results and may not reach all teeth.

If you have questions about teeth whitening, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can learn more in the Dear Doctor magazine articles “Teeth Whitening” and “Important Teeth Whitening Questions Answered.”

If you haven't seen a recent picture of Matthew Lewis, the actor who played Neville Longbottom in all eight Harry Potter movies, you may be in for a surprise: It seems the plump, awkward teenager from Gryffindor has been magically transformed into a post-Hogwarts hunk. What kind of wizardry did it take to change his memorably snarled teeth into a leading man's sparkly smile? The kind skilled cosmetic dentists perform every day!

While special effects created some of the character's dental disarray, the actor's own teeth were far from perfect. And, as Lewis recently noted, the film studio urged him to postpone cosmetic dental work until the movies were all done. “It was something I'd always wanted to do, but it would have meant me wearing a brace for two years,” he told an interviewer with the Yorkshire Evening Post. “Warner Brothers said if I put it off until we'd finished filming they'd pay for it — and they did.”

There are plenty of people, like the twenty-something actor, who put off orthodontic treatment until after their teen years. If you're wondering whether there's still time to get orthodontic work done, then take heart — it's never too late to straighten your teeth!

Today, an estimated twenty percent of orthodontic patients are adults. Compliance with the orthodontic program (meaning thorough regular brushing and flossing, wearing elastics, etc.) is often less of an issue with adults than with teens. Plus, there are some options that can help ensure your orthodontic appliances will fit in with a more mature image.

One is colorless braces. In this system, the brackets (the parts that are bonded to the front teeth and hold the archwire) are made of a clear ceramic material that blends in with the tooth's natural color. This makes them hard to see unless you look closely. Inconspicuous yet effective, clear braces have been the first choice of many celebrities, such as Tom Cruise and Faith Hill... and lots of “regular” adults too.

Another option is lingual braces. These are truly invisible, because they attach behind the teeth (on the tongue side) instead of in front. They work just like the standard braces, and they're appropriate in many situations. However their cost is higher, and the space they occupy in the mouth may take the wearer a bit of time to get used to.

A third option is clear aligners. Unlike braces, which aren't normally removed until orthodontic treatment is nearly complete, clear aligners are easily removable. They consist of a series of transparent trays made of special plastic, which are worn over the teeth 22 hours per day. Each tray in the series is worn for a few weeks, and each moves the teeth a small amount; all together, they can accomplish a big change.

Aligners work well for correcting mild to moderate malocclusion (bite problems). Plus, you can temporarily remove them for important social occasions. But best of all, they're virtually undetectable — so whether or not you play the role of a wizard in the movies, you won't need a magic spell to make them invisible!

Which option is right for you? That's something we would be happy to discuss. If you would like more information about adult orthodontic treatment, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can learn more by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “Orthodontics for the Older Adult.”