Hi Dave,

Tooth whitening is done by using a caustic bleaching solution on the teeth to temporarily bleach out the stains. The longevity of the whitening affect depends on your diet and home care. You will always need to touch up the whitening if you want to maintain brigher, whiter teeth.

Not all teeth can be whitened with a whitening solution, at home or in the dental office...............

1) Only natural teeth without fillings can be whitened.
2) Crowns, bridgework, veneers, tooth colored fillings, bonding, fake teeth..... none of those can be whitened with any whitening solution.
3) Teeth that have tetracycline staining cannot be whitened.
4) The enamel on teeth that have silver or gold fillings may appear to whiten up differently than natural teeth because the metal of these types of fillings tend to show through at certain angles.
5) Teeth with recession that have root exposure will only whiten up to where the root begins at the "invisible" gumline and the root itself will remain darker.
6) ALL whitening solutions (over the counter or in the dental office) contain harsh ingredients that can be very irritating, even burn the gum tissue. So a patient should use extreme caution when using it.
7) There have been cases where patients have had teeth die from the whitening solution because it seaped through a crack in the tooth or under a filling and irritated the nerves.
8) ALL whitening solutions can cause temperature sensitivity to varying degrees for varying lengths of time.

Commericial toothpastes that contain whitening agents can have the same negative results on the health of the teeth as the professional whitening solutions. It is probably best to try an herbal based toothpaste that has natural whitening agents in it that are not caustic nor abraisive to the enamel of the teeth before experimenting with other whitening agents.

I personally use a product by Jason called Powersmile tooth paste. It has great ingredients for your teeth and gums and with daily use, it does naturally whiten your teeth safely.

Hope that information helps! Let us know what you decide to try!

Bryanna