After doing numerous whitening procedures for different individuals in my clinic,I have come to learn some things about different kinds of responses to whitening.

Generally,most people can achieve good results.It is especially impressive on smokers’ teeth.The before and after effect is quite remarkable.I have had a number of customers who came to do whitening as an incentive for themselves to quit smoking,and I commend them for it.

As a rule of thumb,if you have teeth with an even tone or opacity,and you do not have numerous large fillings and crowns in the front teeth,AND you do not hope for toilet-bowl-white teeth after whitening,then you are likely to get satisfactory results with the Britesmile system that I use.(I can’t say about other systems,as I do not use them.)

As I have mentioned before,teeth that are tetracycline-stained usually do not respond well to teeth whitening.Tetracycline is a very strong broad-spectrum antibiotic which was previously widely used because of its effectiveness.However,when taken during teeth fomation,ie taken by a pregnant mother(with their fetus in permanent-teeth-formation stage) or by very young children(when the rest of their permanent teeth are still forming),it deposits on the dentin and enamel of the teeth and creates a permanent stain.These teeth has gray or brown stains either as a uinformed discolouration of the entire tooth or they may appear in the form of horizontal bands of stain.These bands can be of varying intensity and can appear form very mild to very dark in colour.

These are just some examples which I picked up from the internet.

As these stains are deep into the teeth(the deeper,the darker the discolouration),these tetracycline-stained teeth do not respond well to whitening.I heard a lecturer teach in a seminar that I attended recently that they may respond to a certain extend but the whitening procedure has to be repeated several times over a span of months.

The other type of teeth that do not respond well to whitening are those with 2 tones of colour on their teeth.These are teeth that has a a more yellowish and opaque colour on the portion nearer to the gums and the portion nearer to the biting surface appears transluscent.Somehow,the transluscent edge does not respond too well to the peroxide as compared to the opaque portion.Therefore the overall result may not be as favourable,especially if the expectations are high.

Speaking of expectations,I normally assess my customers before they proceed with the treatment,including their expectations.If it is unrealistic,I will discourage them from going ahead with the treatment.That is only fair.I believe this applies to all things.