Teeth whitening in Springfield

Fortunately, our office in Springfield has four different ways to dial up the brightness in your smile, whether you want to relax in our office or work whitening into your schedule at home. Whichever method you prefer, our friendly staff can help you achieve the dramatic results you desire. We’re even glad to clean your teeth beforehand to give your teeth a fresh slate before treatment.

Why Whiten Your Teeth?

Our tooth color comes from light reflected off both the enamel (the hard, outer layer of our teeth) and the dentin (the softer layer underneath). Some people are born having thinner enamel and more visible dentin, but other factors can dim or change the color of your smile, such as:

• Drinks and foods with high-color pigmentation: Porous tooth enamel soaks up color from coffee, tea, red wines, and colas, resulting in stained teeth.
• Tobacco products: The tar and nicotine in cigarettes and other tobacco products leaves stains behind on teeth.
• Certain medications and medical treatments: Teeth can darken because of radiation focused around the head, chemotherapy, antihistamines, some antibiotics, antipsychotics, and high blood pressure medicine.
• Aging: Tooth enamel becomes thinner as we age, allowing more yellowish dentin to show.
• Tooth decay or trauma: When a tooth is injured, our bodies react by producing more dentin, which can be seen through thinner enamel.

What’s more, if you plan to get dentures or other restorative dental work such as a crown, bridge, or veneer, it’s wise to whiten your teeth first. Such restorative dental work is designed to be stain-resistant, so whitening treatments after they’re obtained tend to make them more obvious. When you whiten your teeth beforehand, we can color-match your dental work to your new whiter smile.

Opalescence Boost: Whiten Your Teeth in a Day

Opalescence Boost Teeth Whitening is one of our in-office treatments. This chemically activated treatment produces dramatic results in less than an hour with no harsh, uncomfortable lighting that some other methods use. Opalescence Boost uses a 40 percent hydrogen peroxide whitening gel that also contains potassium nitrate and fluoride. These ingredients have been proven to help minimize sensitivity, reduce cavities, and harden natural tooth enamel.

To get started, we’ll assess the current color of your teeth. You’ll wear protective mouth guards to shield your tongue and lips from the gel, along with a resin barrier around your gum line. Once we apply the whitening gel, just relax for 20 minutes. We’ll remove the gel to check whether your teeth are as white as you’d like. Although one 20-minute treatment might be all you need, we can apply the gel again for another 20 minutes. Either way, in less than an hour, you’ll walk out with a brighter smile than when you arrived.

GLO^® Science Professional: Dramatic Results with No Sensitivity

Our office in Springfield also offers the innovative GLO Science Professional system, which can make your teeth an average of five shades whiter after just 32 minutes. Although GLO Science Professional uses gentle light and heat to activate and accelerate the whitening gel, its patented mouthpiece design ensures that patients report no tooth sensitivity.

With this method, we’ll help you choose between two strengths of whitening gel containing either 24 percent or 30 percent hydrogen peroxide, based on your teeth’s current color, sensitivity, and desired results. With the closed mouthpiece that focuses the light and heat on the gel, you’ll get results in less time than some other in-office methods that also are long-lasting.

Opalescence Go^®: Impressive Teeth Whitening at Home

Opalescence Go is one of the professional-strength take-home products that our office in Springfield carries. Packaged in a convenient, ready-to-use kit, it produces dramatic results within five to ten days.

Opalescence Go combines a whitening gel of either 10 percent or 15 percent hydrogen peroxide with the same ingredients — potassium nitrate and fluoride — found in Opalescence Boost. To use, just center one of the prefilled trays over your upper or lower arch and bite gently, then swallow to secure the whitening gel. You’ll remove the outer tray to expose the comfortable inner tray during the whitening process.

Opalescence Go comes in two flavors, mint and melon, for a pleasant taste and includes enough disposable prefilled trays to last you for five to ten days of treatment. You won’t have to mix or measure any ingredients. Simply wear the 15 percent concentration for 15 to 20 minutes daily or the 10 percent concentration for 30 to 60 minutes daily, then toss away the tray and brush your teeth until you’re ready to whiten the next day.

GLO^®: Whiten Teeth at Home or On the Go

For added convenience, our office in Springfield also offers the innovative GLO teeth whitening system, which is quite similar to its in-office counterpart. The GLO kit includes a closed patented mouthpiece that can focus gentle heat and light from a small remote to be worn on a lanyard, along with premixed vials of 9 percent hydrogen peroxide whitening gel.

To protect your lips, GLO also includes a special balm, which you’ll apply before getting started. Brush and floss your teeth, then brush the professional-strength whitening gel on your teeth. Bite down on the mouthpiece, turn it on from the remote — and relax. Because the remote is attached to a lanyard, you can move freely around your home during each eight-minute cycle of treatment. A full day’s treatment is four cycles of eight minutes. (You rinse off the gel each time before reapplying.) The short treatment cycles help protect against sensitivity.

GLO produces stunning results within five days, an average of five shades brighter. You can use it safely for up to ten days in a row.

Call Today to Schedule a Teeth Whitening Appointment

Ready to take your smile whiter and brighter? If you’d like to make an appointment, or if you have additional questions, we’re here for you. Please call our friendly staff in Springfield. Call us today at (413) 306-4371 or book an appointment online.