Teeth Whitening in Applecross & Mt Pleasant

You can prolong the life of your newly whitened smile by:

• Thorough and gentle tooth brushing, at least 2x/day, preferably with a soft electric brush.
• Limit smoking, tea, coffee and ‘tooth staining’ foods
• Maintain regular dental check-ups for professional tooth cleaning (every six months is most common)
• Use a whitening toothpaste (under your clinicians direction)
• Use the touch up ‘home whitening kit’ as required
• Consider re-whitening with an in-clinic product as required (perhaps every few years)
• Floss! Floss! Floss! Floss! Floss!

Generally not. Fillings and crowns do not respond as well (if at all) to the whitening agents discussed above. However, this may not be as big a problem as you might think.

For any given patient, there are naturally occurring differences in tooth colour between different teeth and within an individual tooth. For instance, canine or ‘eye teeth’ are usually a little darker than the teeth next to them, and all teeth are generally a little darker around the gum line than at the biting edge. These subtle colour differences help make a smile look ‘natural’ rather than the ‘white picket fence’ look that most people try to avoid.

When you have your teeth whitened, everything natural (light and dark shades) tends to ‘whiten’, but the subtle differences in shade are maintained. With this in mind, the odd filling or crown that perhaps isn’t exactly the same colour as everything else tends to ‘blend in’ given that there are subtle colour differences within and between all the teeth anyway.

Having said that – if old dental work does look out of place after whitening, it can always be replaced.

Our team can usually predict ahead of time (at your whitening consult) if we suspect your existing dental work may provide problems post-whitening.

After the whitening procedures teeth can become quite porous and are prone to accumulating food stain. They’re also more susceptible to sensitivity.

We recommend avoiding any foods that would stain a white shirt or cause tooth sensitivity for at least 12-24hrs after whitening. This includes ‘staining foods’ such as tea, coffee, red-wine, beer, gravy, tomato sauce and curry; as well as ‘sensitive foods’ like ice-cream, citrus fruits, carbonated drinks, wine, ice-cubes etc.

Common sense prevails, however. If you are able to tolerate eating ice-cream without causing any pain- then it’s OK to eat it. Likewise, if you can drink your coffee through a straw rather than splashing it over the porous teeth, you can probably allow yourself that caffeine hit!

You can also ‘block up’ the porosities in your teeth and reduce your risk of staining and sensitivity by using products such as Tooth Mousse.

Every health insurer is different, and while some insurers will provide rebates for whitening services (ranging from $80 to $450), others may not. Ask our team about your specific insurer and we’d be happy to give you an estimate.

Yes you can…. But it’s a bit more complicated than just issuing a voucher. Whitening is a medical procedure and as such anyone considering it needs to consult with a trained practitioner to assess their individual suitability for whitening treatment. What we would suggest is to contact our whitening team, explain what you’d like to do and what your budget is. We can present you with a gift certificate that can be redeemed once we’ve confirmed the patient is suitable. These certificates will of course be refundable should, for whatever reason, whitening not be an appropriate treatment.

Plan ahead! Make sure you’re suitable for whitening well and truly in advance of the big day. If you have untreated dental disease this needs to be treated before you can responsibly consider whitening. Ideally you’d get your teeth checked at least three-to-six months before the big day.

If all your other dental needs are taken care of, generally we’d recommend the ideal time to be whitening is approximately two weeks before the big event.

Teeth cleaning and polishing. Sometimes what appears to be the most severe looking stains are often not related to the tooth colour at all. For instance, professional tooth clean and polishing/ replacement of old restorations may improve the shade of teeth without even needing to have them whitened.

Veneers/ Bondings and Crowns. If whitening is ineffective or not likely to achieve the results that a patient or dentist desires, sometimes one may opt to cover or ‘veneer’ the darkened tooth with a false tooth. This approach typically gives a much greater control over colour and shape of the teeth, and generally gives the most predictable result.

Sometimes (but not always) teeth need to be ‘trimmed down’ to allow the veneer or crown to fit over the darkened tooth. This is not always an appropriate course of care for every patient, and the advantages/ disadvantages of this approach need to be discussed with the dentist.

Materials used include white plastic or ‘composite’ or ceramic/porcelain. Typically ceramic gives a better result, is longer lasting and a little more expensive (ranging from $1100-$1590 per tooth). Plastic veneers start at $295 per tooth.