In Search Of Pearly Whites

By Rosa Lyster

Vanity works in mysterious ways. For the sake of argument, say that everyone has a list in their head entitled “Things I Have To Worry About”, and that in this list there is a subheading called “My Teeth”. Some people, veterans of the adolescent crusade for the perfect smile, those who know braces and plates and tooth elastics intimately and what it feels like to lie for five hours with your mouth open on the orthodontists chair, are all too familiar with this subheading. They’ve known for a long time now what it means to think about teeth, how it feels to discuss teeth for hours. For other people, teeth are just teeth – those things that you have in your mouth. Those other people don’t worry or think about their teeth all that much, bar yearly checkups at the dentist and that niggling thought that they really should floss more. But here is where vanity comes in.

                     

Tooth whitening is now big business, no longer the preserve of those people on the E! Channel, but people just like you and me.  Everyone is doing it, and suddenly you find that your vanity is starting to give you a bit of a nudge, worrying you like a sore tooth. If everyone suddenly has these glorious white teeth on display, it asks, why don’t you? You really should worry about it, your vanity says, you don’t want to fall behind. Nothing shows aging like your teeth (except for your neck and your hands and, actually, your whole face, but never mind), it’ll say. Whether or not it’s really important in the grander scheme of things doesn’t matter. That ship has sailed. Drinking coffee, tea, red wine and Coca Cola stains your teeth. Eating carrots and oranges stains your teeth. Smoking is simply the worst. You don’t stand a chance, if you smoke. And it is true that there’s something very attractive about perfect, pearly whites.

Once you’ve started noticing it, you won’t be able to stop, and then it’s only a matter of time before your first trip into the world of cosmetic dentistry. Statistics show that 15% of Americans regularly whiten their teeth, and that that number is growing all the time. While there are no statistics available for South Africa, it’s easy to see that the procedure is becoming more common. It’s cheaper to whiten your teeth in Africa than anywhere else in the world, and this is just one more reason for the trend’s increasing popularity.

Here is what you need to know.  Teeth are whitened by applying an oxidizing agent, like hydrogen peroxide, to the enamel of the tooth. Hydrogen peroxide is a highly reactive chemical containing hydrogen and oxygen. There are two ways to get your teeth all lovely and white: at the dentist or at home. There are advantages to both ways of doing it. At the dentist, a relatively high concentration peroxide gel is applied to the teeth for 15-20 minutes, three or four times over the course of one session. The clearest benefit to this is that you get a significant change in the colour of your teeth over a relatively short period of time. The clearest disadvantage is that it hurts. It doesn’t always hurt – there are some people who won’t feel a thing. But there are others who will. There’s no pain quite like the pain of sore teeth, it’s specifically needling and sharp.

Professional or ‘In-office’ teeth whitening involves a higher concentration of peroxide gel being applied to the teeth, and therefore teeth will be more sensitive as the nerve tissue inside the tooth becomes irritated. Some people experience spontaneous shooting pains down their front teeth (pains so familiar to those in the industry that they have actually given them a name: “zingers”). It’s not serious as the pain doesn’t normally continue after the session is over.

At home whitening involves using a pharmacy bought kit where the oxidizing agent is applied to the teeth via a one-size-fits-all tray, whitening strips or paint-on applicators. The obvious advantage here is that it costs much less, and it’s unlikely to hurt. The disadvantage is that it doesn’t necessarily work as well. Because ‘in-office’ teeth whitening involves applying a mouth guard that is specifically moulded to your teeth, it means that all your teeth will be equally whitened. A one-size-fits-all mouth guard means that it’s possible that only the front teeth will get whitened, or some teeth may be more whitened than others.

Neither of these are permanent solutions, and both require maintenance. A recent American study has shown that as many as four shades of lightness can be lost over 30 days after ‘in-office’ bleaching. A few of the general unlikely side effects are: chemical burns on the gums, newly sensitive teeth and over-bleaching. Watch out for the last one. There’s something sinister about teeth that are too white. Tooth whitening, like dyeing the hair, is not recommended for pregnant women. You wouldn’t think this needed to be spelt out, but tooth whitening is also not recommended for children under the age of 16.

The way the industry is growing, tooth whitening is soon going to be one of those things that everybody does. Everyone except children, hopefully. As long as you know the basic risks and what is required, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t forge into territory as yet uncharted by your vanity.