SUpersmile Toothpaste Archives | Poplar Crossing Dental

The Secret to Really White Teeth

Posted on October 20, 2023 by writeradmin.

I ran across your blog when looking up information about Lumineers. I’ve been trying everything to get my teeth really white. I use nite white gel in take home trays, but cannot seem to get my teeth as white as I want them to get. I asked my dentist and they suggested I get some whitening toothpaste to keep them white as things go along. However, a friend of mine told me you should never wear use over-the-counter whitening toothpaste. Now I am not sure what else to do. Is there some secret to getting really white teeth? Can Lumineers get them as white as I want?

Carol

Dear Carol,

Teeth Bleaching Trays

I am going to suggest that you do not get Lumineers. These are a brand of porcelain veneers that are highly marketed to inexperienced cosmetic dentists. However, these dentists do not tend to get the best results. Additionally, the Lumineers company insists that dentists use their company’s laboratory. The truth is not many expert cosmetic dentists find that their lab gives beautiful results. They tend to come out a bit chalky and / or bulky.

If you are looking for a complete smile makeover, then you can get still get one, but I would go with a different brand of porcelain veneers. Though considerably more expensive than teeth whitening, porcelain veneers can change the shape, size and color of your teeth. However, if you are only interested in getting whiter teeth, you will save money by sticking it out with teeth whitening.

If you don’t mind being persistant, you can get your teeth really white with teeth whitening, it just takes time. You may want to see if your dentist is using a strong dose of the whitening gel. You can usually get a 33% whitening strength with professional tooth whitening gel. Some gels are a little less than that though.

Your friend was right about the over-the-counter whitening toothpaste. These contain abrasives that do remove stains, but they also etch the teeth slightly which, in turn, causes them to pick up more stains at an even faster rate. The only whitening toothpaste that I recommend is Supersmile Toothpaste. This uses a safe protein pelicle to remove the surface stains of your teeth. It is safe and effective, even on dental work.

This blog is brought to you by Hoffman Estates Dentist Dr. William Becker.

Porcelain Veneers are Stained

Posted on May 19, 2023 by writeradmin.

I have had my porcelain veneers for about 7.5 months. I was very excited about them (and still am), however, they have begun to stain. I do drink coffee, but I brush my teeth so I was surprised they stained this quickly. If I had some teeth whitening done, will it brighten them back up?

Ambrosia

Dear Ambrosia,

A smile makeover should last for years.

I’m glad you wrote. Your porcelain veneers should not be staining like this, especially since you haven’t had them for very long. This is true even though you drink coffee. This tells me that something has damaged your porcelain veneers. The timing is interesting to me. I wonder if at your recent cleaning (which I’m assuming you had around the six month mark) if your dental hygienist used something like a power prophy jet or some acidulated fluoride during your appointment. If so, this would completely remove the glazing on your porcelain veneers. It is the glazing that protects your porcelain veneers from staining.

Unfortunately, teeth whitening only works on natural tooth structure. My recommendation is that you go back to your dentist and talk to them about the issue. They should be able to polish these back up to get you the shine you need.

Even though your porcelain veneers are stain resistant, it never hurts to use toothpaste that will help with surface stains. Do NOT use over the counter whitening toothpastes. These will damage the veneers because they use abrasives to whiten your teeth. These micro scratches will actually cause your porcelain veneers to stain. Instead, I am going to recommend that you use Supersmile Toothpaste. This is specifically formulated for cosmetic work. It uses a protein pellicle to safely remove surface stains on your teeth.

I hope this helps.

This blog is brought to you by Hoffman Estates Dentist Dr. William Becker.

Peroxide Mouthwash for Porcelain Veneers

Posted on February 1, 2022 by writeradmin.

I recently got porcelain veneers for a smile makeover and can’t stop smiling. I want to take good care of them. I devised a homemade mouthwash and wanted to run the ingredients by you before I use it.

8 oz. filtered water
8 oz. peroxide (the kind you get in the store)
1 tsp. sea-salt

Is it safe for me to rinse my mouth with this every day?

Marilyn

Dear Marilyn,

I am glad that you love your new smile makeover. We’ve seen that patients who get a smile makeover grow in confidence and even end up getting unexpected benefits. I know one person whose confidence grew so much they received a promotion in just a few months. While it is wonderful that you want to take great care of your smile, there is one ingredient you have that concerns me. Hydrogen peroxide when used periodically can do wonderful things to clean up bacteria in your mouth. However, as a mouthwash, if you plan on using it daily, it can cause some problems. This is because it will kill both the good and bad bacteria. This will leave you at risk of developing an oral yeast infection. If you only use this once a week you should be fine, but I would not do it more than that.

If you ever decide to purchase over-the-counter mouthwash just be certain that it does not contain alcohol, which can weaken the bonding on your porcelain veneers.

Caring for Porcelain Veneers

Honestly, the most important thing you can do for your porcelain veneers is good basic oral hygiene. Brush your teeth twice a day and floss daily. As for toothpaste, you will want to avoid typical over-the-counter whitening toothpaste. These contain harsh abrasives that can leave micro-scratches in both your natural teeth and porcelain veneers. While it will scrub stains off, those etches actually make them more vulnerable to picking up stains. The only whitening toothpaste I recommend is Supersmile Toothpaste. It is specially formulated for cosmetic work and protects it instead of damaging it. If you do that and keep up with your dental appointments, you should be just fine.

This blog is brought to you by Hoffman Estates Dentist Dr. William Becker.

I Ruined My Dental Bonding!

Posted on September 25, 2021 by writeradmin.

I had dental bonding done 5 days ago in order to make my teeth look straight. I was so excited to have a straight smile and wanted to take really good care of them. I was brushing with baking soda, but I think that was a mistake because now they’ve turned yellow. Will teeth whitening help fix this? I feel horrible about this.

Nancy

Dear Nancy,

I would not actually consider this your fault. Part of any type of cosmetic treatment is the dentist telling you how you care for them, including what NOT to do. Unfortunately, baking soda is very abrasive. It has scrubbed off the polish on your dental bonding, which is allowing it to pick up stains. You will find the same problem if you use over the counter whitening toothpastes. These have an abrasive in them that scrubs stains off, but actually damages the surface of teeth, even more so with cosmetic work such as your dental bonding.

Unfortunately, teeth whitening only works on natural tooth structure, so that will not be a good solution for you. There is good news, though. Because you have only had these for five days and your dentist didn’t give you post-operative instruction, I would just ask him to re-do the polish for you. If it helps, you can show him this blog post so you don’t feel like you’re on your own in asking this.

Once you have that re-done, a great toothpaste for anyone with cosmetic work is Supersmile toothpaste. It has a special ingredient that removes stains chemically without damaging natural or cosmetic tooth structure. I highly recommend it.

Something to consider in the future is porcelain veneers. Your composite bonding will last a few years, but not much longer. Well cared for porcelain veneers can last a lifetime. They are more stain resistant than even your natural teeth. I wouldn’t get it now as your bonding will be fine for a while after your dentist fixes this one issue. Just start saving so when the time comes to replace your bonding, you can upgrade to something better and longer lasting.

This blog is brought to you by Hoffman Estates Dentist Dr. William Becker.

My Porcelain Veneers are Turning Yellow

Posted on April 18, 2020 by writeradmin.

I have porcelain veneers that are only about 8 months old. I went in for my normal six month checkup and cleaning right before all the shut downs. I had actually traveled out of state to get my smile makeover because I wanted it done by a top of the line cosmetic dentist. They’re not open right now because they are pretty much a cosmetic only type of practice. I don’t know what has happened, but they’ve started turning yellowish. I take very good care of them so I don’t think it is anything I did. Could the porcelain be faulty? This is a very reputable practice, so I’d be surprised. What do I do?

Cindy

Dear Cindy,

I’m sure you are quite frustrated and worried about your investment. I doubt you did anything to cause this. I’ve often found when patients are pleased with the results of their smile makeovers, they are even more diligent and careful with their oral hygiene. Porcelain is very stain resistant. I don’t think it is “faulty”. Some less than reputable practices will sometimes place composite veneers and say they are porcelain veneers.

One possibility could be your family dentist damaged them during your cleaning. It is the timing which has me suspecting this. You said it’s been about eight months and you went in a couple of months ago. If your hygienist used something like a power prophy jet or acidulated fluoride during your appointment, it would remove the glazing from the porcelain veneers. The glazing is what protects your porcelain veneers from picking up stains and giving them that natural-looking shine.

If your hygienist removed the glaze, you wouldn’t have noticed it right away. They’d look fine at first, then dull, then finally they’ll begin picking up stains. This seems to be what is going on now. This sometimes happens in dental practices which do the more bread and butter type of dentistry and don’t know the ins and outs of taking care of cosmetic work.

Getting Your Porcelain Veneers Fixed

There is a procedure, using diamond polishing equipment, that can restore the glazing on your veneers. However, I doubt that your current dentist will either know the procedure or have the equipment. Because they are the ones who likely have damaged it, you’ll want them to pay for the repair.

What I would do is see your cosmetic dentist as soon as they are open again and have them look at the veneers. They can tell you if the glazing has been removed. In the meantime, I suggest you get some Supersmile toothpaste. This does the best job of removing stains of any of the toothpastes on the market. It’s also the only one safe for both teeth and cosmetic work. Most “whitening” toothpastes use abrasives to remove stains which damages the enamel.

This blog is brought to you by Hoffman Estates Dentist Dr. William Becker.

Will Supersmile Accelerating Kit Help Stained Bonding?

Posted on September 30, 2019 by writeradmin.

I have stained dental bonding. I see Supersmile has an accelerating kit. Will that help remove the stains faster than the Supersmile toothpaste? If not, can I just whiten them at the dentist? My regular teeth need whitening anyway.

Kit

Dear Kit

Let’s start with what type of stains you are talking about.

Surface Stains

If you’re talking about basic surface stains that all teeth pick up periodically, then the Supersmile toothpaste is effective at removing those. In fact, I recommend anyone with cosmetic work use Supersmile. Calprox is a main ingredient in this toothpaste. It dissolves the protein pellicle that covers your teeth. This is what stains attach to. Once the pellicle is dissolved, the stain is removed.

The accelerating kit is a different beast. Its intention is to accelerate the whitening effect of the toothpaste using peroxide. When talking about surface stains on dental bonding, that’s not useful to you. I’d stick with the less expensive Supersmile toothpaste without the accelerator.

Stains from Lost Polish

If the glaze is gone from your dental bonding, this won’t help. Neither will whitening with your dentist. Even professional teeth whitening only works on natural tooth structure. The only thing to do in that case is to replace the bonding.

Be careful when you get your teeth cleaned with your dentist. If your hygienist doesn’t understand cosmetic work, she could unintentionally take off the polish by using a power prophy jet or acidulated fluoride.

Where to go from Here

You can still get the beautiful white smile you want. Because you want your natural teeth whiter, we’ll start with that. You’ll want to whiten your teeth first. If you have it available in your area, I’d recommend you do Zoom Whitening. This can be done in just one appointment which will allow you to get one with the dental bonding all the more quickly.

Once that is done, you’ll need to have the bonding re-done to match your new brighter color. Then, use Supersmile toothpaste to keep it stain free. Unlike other whitening type kinds of toothpaste, Supersmile isn’t abrasive so you don’t have to worry about it etching your beautiful bonding.

This blog is brought to you by Hoffman Estates Dentist Dr. William Becker.