Hello, Bryanna,

My dental insurance has changed.
I need someone for cleanings and to keep everything fine.

What should I look for . . . years of experience?

Is whitening safe for teeth if the dentist does it?

I've been wearing braces for a year and a half and hope to get them off soon.

M.

Hey Mari!

Well.....I would look for an office that was very clean and one that has state of the art equipment. The cleanliness is for obvious reasons... the state of the art equipment can be indicative of a dentist who is educated on the latest techniques which in the long run, only serves to benefit the patient. These techniques generally means less chair time for the patient!!! yeh!!! and the use of the best dental materials on the market. Usually, these dentists also hire very skilled and formally educated staff.... again, this all benefits the patient in the long run.

In office whitening is generally a safe procedure. It has been around for several years, so irrelevant of what product they promote, this is not considered state of the art. The secret about tooth whitening is..... you can get a similar result with an at home whitening kit bought from your dentist as you can from an in office whitening session. The whitening kit sold by the dentist is a higher concentration of material than you can buy in the drug store. If you apply it properly and your teeth respond favorably to the whitening solution, you can get a great result at home and it costs alot less than an in office session. At home you would apply it with the aid of special mouth trays made just for you for about 2 weeks once a day for just a few minutes whereas the in office whitening is one 1 1/2- 2 hour visit.

Bryanna