Teeth naturally discolor over time, but for anyone desiring to have bright, white teeth, you will be excited to know that there are ways now to achieve this without damaging your teeth. The outer part of our teeth becomes stained with food, drinks like coffee, Coke, and red wine and also from smoking. There can also be miniscule cracks in your teeth that will result in staining, and there are antibiotics that can cause stains but the teeth can be made whiter and brighter with bleaching or laser whitening.

Bleaching is a common method for whitening teeth which requires using a gel or in some cases a rubber piece to protect your sensitive gums. A special tray which carefully fits your mouth is then filled with the whitening product and used to bleach your teeth. Carbamide peroxide and hydrogen peroxide are the ‘active ingredients’ that will break down and allow oxygen to enter your teeth enamel, resulting in a whiter color. This entire process takes only three trips to the dentist over a course of three weeks.

The very highly effective laser whitening method involves a rubber dam which will be put over your teeth to help avoid damage to your gums while a whitening product is painted on. The laser will then activate the chemical, and the laser will also act as a booster for the reaction of the chemicals resulting in a more effective, and faster color change. Laser whitening is more expensive but has the great convenience of only taking one hour, making your teeth up to six shades lighter and lasting up to three years.