Teeth Whitening

Have you ever considered the benefits of whitening your teeth? Being able to have your brightest and whitest smile leads to greater self-confidence and as a study at the University of North Carolina shows, better mental health. Study author Gary Slade, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, summed it up: “We were interested to see if people with poor dental health had relatively poorer cognitive function, which is a technical term for how well people do with memory and with managing words and numbers,” he said in an interview with U.S. News and World Report. “What we found was that for every extra tooth that a person had lost or had removed, cognitive function went down a bit. The same was true [for] patients with severe gum disease.”

Along with better mental health what else can teeth whitening do for you? We want to explore the benefits and see if it is worth it to take those whites and make them pearly whites.

When did people begin to whiten their teeth?

Teeth whitening has been a part of human life since as early as the ancient Egyptians. Although the methods have changed, being able to show off your smile is one of the first things that other people see, and that hasn’t changed over the centuries. According to an article in the Seattle Times, “the practice of teeth-whitening began around 4,000 years ago with the ancient Egyptians, who created a whitening paste using ground pumice stone mixed in wine vinegar”. From whitening paste, to chew sticks that removed bacteria from the teeth to 17th-century barbers applying acid to whiten teeth, the desire to have white teeth has been sought after for quite a while.

After all of that time, here comes the 20th century and the discovery of a new method to help make teeth whiter. In the same Seattle Times article, we read, “For years, peroxide had been used as an oral antiseptic gel to treat the gums; dentists tried different ways to keep the gel on the gums longer. It became quickly apparent that a side effect of that treatment was that it whitened the teeth”.

Are there benefits to teeth whitening?

Throughout an average lifetime, many things can stain or discolor your teeth. Some of those ways include the following:

• Using tobacco either chewing or smoking it
• Drinking dark drinks like cola, coffee or tea
• Accrual of plaque buildup
• The natural course of aging

Teeth whitening is available and can reverse some of the stains caused by these things. Other benefits of teeth whitening include:

• A healthier looking and healthier feeling mouth
• Boost your self-esteem by showing off your smile
• Have a happier influence to those that you meet
• Could boost mental health (see referenced study above)

When you are considering all of the options of teeth whitening, give us a call here at Apple Tree Dental. We have performed hundreds of teeth whitenings and can help you gain confidence in your smile.