Age, diet, and lifestyle factors can all cause your teeth to become discoloured over time. Stained teeth can affect your confidence and leave you reluctant to smile. Teeth whitening is one of the most requested cosmetic treatments in Australia. It uses safe bleaching agents to visibly brighten your teeth and give you a winning smile.

If you’re wondering how to get white teeth, here are some of the most popular ways to brighten your smile and conceal discoloured teeth. 

What Causes Tooth Stains?

Food, drink, and tobacco products contain dark pigments which can change the colour of your teeth. When you eat, drink, or smoke, a salivary glycoprotein film develops over your tooth enamel, called the pellicle layer. This film remains until it is removed when you brush and floss.  

Although the pellicle layer protects your enamel from acid wear, it also traps pigments. If the film is not regularly brushed away, the pigments penetrate the porous enamel and become trapped in the hydroxyapatite crystals that form the enamel’s structure. 

These pigments alter the way the light reflects off your teeth, changing the colour perception of your teeth, making them appear yellow, tan, or grey. 

Common staining culprits include substances rich in tannins, such as red wine, tea, and chocolate. Other foods that cause discolouration include coffee, tomato-based sauces, and berries. Some medications, such as tetracycline antibiotics, hypertension drugs, and several anti-histamines, can also cause tooth staining. 

How to Get White Teeth: Treatment Options?

If you have tooth discolouration and you’re curious about how to get white teeth, Dental Spot offers several effective treatments, including:

• Professional Teeth Whitening 

In-chair professional teeth whitening is the most effective way to get a brighter smile. Teeth whitening treatments contain bleaching agents which penetrate the enamel layer and oxidize when activated. These oxygen molecules work to break down and disperse staining molecules.

At Dental Spot, we offer Opalescence in-office teeth whitening. The powerful 40% hydrogen peroxide formula can whiten teeth in less than an hour. The gel also contains potassium nitrate and fluoride to remineralise the tooth enamel throughout the treatment, minimising post-treatment tooth sensitivity. 

After cleaning tartar and plaque from your teeth, the dentist applies a protective barrier over the gums, then uses a special applicator with a brush tip to paint your teeth with the Opalescence gel. The red-coloured gel is highly viscous, so there is minimal risk of ingesting the product or suffering from soft tissue irritation. 

The gel remains on your teeth for up to 20 minutes, then is rinsed off. Your dentist checks your tooth colour and reapplies the gel if necessary. The treatment can be repeated up to two more times to achieve your desired shade. 

• At-home Teeth Whitening Kit

If you want a lower concentration teeth whitening formula and aren’t under time constraints to whiten your teeth, an at-home kit may be the right option for you. 

Our Poladay At-Home teeth whitening kits are safe yet highly effective and feature custom whitening trays and 7.5% hydrogen peroxide gel. Your mouth tray is moulded at our dental practice, then you take the kit home and inject the premeasured bleaching gel into the tray cavities. Apply the tray for 15 minutes morning and night or one 30 minute session. Remove the tray, then brush your teeth.

Within 14 days, you should have a noticeably brighter smile.

• Dental Veneers

Porcelain veneers are a suitable alternative to professional teeth whitening. Intrinsic stains, in which the yellow dentin shows through the enamel, is challenging to treat with teeth whitening products. Veneers are a wafer-thin shell that is placed over your teeth to disguise discolouration and give you a natural-looking smile. 

Veneers are custom-made. Following some minor tooth preparation, your dentist takes impressions to send to an off-site lab where your veneers are fabricated. 

You return for a second appointment to have the veneers fitted and cemented in place. 

• Crowns

Dental crowns are a fantastic option for concealing stained, chipped, or cracked teeth while simultaneously providing support to the damaged natural tooth. This teeth whitening method can serve a purely cosmetic purpose, or you can use crowns to replace missing teeth by using them to top a dental implant. 

At the Dental Spot, we fabricate our dental crowns onsite and match every detail of the crown to your natural teeth in colour and shape. Remember that if you are prescribed a dental crown to replace a missing tooth or conceal a severely damaged one, you’ll need to undergo the whitening treatment first and then match your crown colour to that shade. 

Cosmetic Dentistry in Croydon 

If you’re feeling insecure about tooth discolouration or damaged teeth, there are several methods to consider for a brighter smile. The team at Dental Spot in Croydon can answer any questions you have about how to get white teeth and which option is right for you. Call us today on (02) 9158 6115 to find out more. 

Note: Any surgical or invasive procedure carries risks. Before proceeding, you should seek a second opinion from an appropriately qualified health practitioner.