Tooth Whitening: Relapse

In my final post concerning tooth whitening, I'm going to discuss the issue of relapse. Relapse is the steady darkening of teeth after the whitening process is complete, and its inevitable to a certain extent. Your teeth became dark over time for a reason, and they will regress back to that shade at a rate that is determined by your continued ingestion of foods and beverages that cause extrinsic stain (remember that term? Check my previous posts if you don't.). So the obvious solution is to cut back on these things. However, it seems like the best food and drink out there causes staining, so do we really have to make that kind of sacrifice? I, for one, could never do that. Luckily, there is a solution -- continued whitening at an interval that maintains a level of whiteness you are comfortable with. After most in-office whitening is completed, the dentist will provide you with plastic whitening trays customized to your teeth. These trays serve two purposes: to continue to whiten your teeth beyond the level the in-office whitening attained, and to be used to boost your teeth's whiteness when they begin to relapse. This second purpose will be an ongoing process for as long as you want to maintain your achieved level of whiteness. Once your teeth begin to stain again, use those trays, white strips, or some other whitening agent for a few days until the dinginess is gone. The amount of time and whitening agent it will take to re-whiten your teeth is dependent on the amount of relapse your teeth experienced. For most people, re-whitening every month or two usually does the trick.

There are two more points I want to include in this post before I bid you farewell. First, though all whitening systems will eventually relapse, in office-whitening systems can be perceived as having significant relapse after their completion. Often people will tell me that their teeth were really white after in-office whitening treatment for a day or two but then got darker overnight (though were still whiter than when they began the process). The reason for this involves the process of the in-office treatment itself. During treatment your mouth stays open and no water/saliva is allowed to touch your teeth for 45 minutes or so while the whitening agent does its thing. As a result your teeth become dehydrated. And what's the most notable indication of dehydrated teeth? They become whiter. And how long does it take for teeth to totally rehydrate? About a day or two. It all makes sense when you have the facts.

The second point I want to make is that some people believe having red wine, coffee, or other stain causing foods/beverages right after whitening will have a larger than usual impact on their teeth's whiteness due to increased enamel permeability after treatment. Studies conflict concerning whether or not this increased permeability actually occurs. For that reason I'd recommend holding off on consuming staining food and drink for a few days after whitening to be on the safe side.

Happy New Year everyone!

-DRS