How to Get and Maintain Your Whitest Teeth

When it comes to first impressions, your smile ranks high in terms of what people notice about you. You want to make sure your smile exudes confidence, great health, and vitality — which is largely powered by healthy, white teeth.

Are your teeth looking a little worse for wear as stains pile up and aging takes its toll? There’s a quick and easy way to give your teeth a whitening boost.

At VP Dental, Dr. Valerie M. Preston and our expert dental team know how important great dental health is. To ensure your teeth look as healthy on the outside as they are on the inside, we offer professional teeth whitening services.

Here’s a look at how we can breathe new life into discolored teeth and how you can maintain the results.

Whiten up

Yellow or stained teeth is a perfectly natural development. As you age, your enamel begins to wear down, allowing more of the brown dentin inside your teeth to show through — which is what creates the yellowing effect.

On top of this, years of drinking and eating foods with artificial and natural coloring (coffee, wine, and fruit) can begin to stain your teeth, despite your best cleaning efforts.

If brushing isn’t keeping up with the discoloring, it may be time to whiten and brighten your teeth with our professional whitening services. We can deliver dramatic results in one of two ways:

In-office whitening

If you’d like to whiten your teeth in just one visit, we have the professional-grade products you need. When you come in, we apply a special bleaching agent to your teeth, without harming your gums, and use a special UV light to activate the gel. Using this technique, we can whiten your teeth up to seven shades in one hour.

Take-home whitening kits

If you’d prefer a more gradual approach to whitening your teeth, we can supply you with at-home whitening kits designed to fit your teeth and meet your whitening goals. You come in so we can take impressions of your teeth to have custom trays manufactured. We then supply you with the professional whitening agents, which you place in your trays and wear for two to three hours a day for a week or two.

Maintaining your pearly whites

While our professional teeth whitening services deliver dramatic results in very little time, your teeth can still succumb to the same influences that caused them to discolor in the first place. To maintain your new pearly whites, there are several steps you should take, including:

• Brushing twice a day

• Rinsing after you eat or drink

• Flossing once a day

• Keeping up with your twice-yearly professional cleanings

• Avoiding foods that stain

• Drinking liquids that stain through a straw

If your teeth start to lose their sheen, you can simply return for a touch-up whitening treatment with us.

If you’d like to greet the world with a smile that dazzles, please give us a call at (919) 230-6121 or contact us here to set up an appointment.