I’m wondering if our dentist did the Zoom Whitening wrong. Here’s the situation. When my daughter’s braces were removed, her teeth had an uneven color. Our dentist suggested we whiten them with Zoom because it is the strongest whitening. While her teeth are whiter, they’re still uneven and it actually makes it look worse. Did something go wrong with the procedure?
Kelly
Dear Kelly,
I’m sure the Zoom whitening procedure was done correctly. The steps are fairly straightforward. The problem your daughter is facing is that it was not the right procedure for her situation. Any type of teeth whitening procedures, including Zoom, whiten teeth evenly. It won’t selectively whiten some areas to match the others. So what is the right treatment for your daughter’s situation?
The white spots on your daughter’s teeth are decalcification spots. This is fairly common after traditional braces. It is quite hard to brush thoroughly around all those metal wires and brackets. When students don’t brush those areas well enough the decalcification spots show up. Essentially, they are pre-cavities so you don’t want to leave them.
You can try a special product called Tooth Mousse that can remineralize teeth in certain situations, but in most cases, this has to be treated with dental bonding. To do this, a dentist will gently remove the decalcified area and replace it with composite dental bonding. It does take some artistry and training to do this well. It is a more advanced procedure than teeth whitening.
Because of this, I am going to recommend you use a different dentist for this particular procedure. Teeth whitening is the easiest cosmetic procedure there is and your dentist was confused about its principles. I don’t think there is much chance they will be able to do the bonding well.
For the benefit of other parents reading this, one way to avoid this situation is to get Invisalign instead of traditional braces. They’re removable, so it is easier to brush thoroughly. However, because they’re removable it does require your teeth to be responsible. If you don’t think they’ll wear them the correct amount of time or will lose them, then I’d stick with the braces.
This blog is brought to you by Hoffman Estates Dentist Dr. William Becker.