HEALTH

Bummer. Nothing kills the excitement of getting the metal off than seeing yellow rust stains. But wait, first of all, it's probably not as bad as you think. Secondly, there are things to try to turn those pearly whites white. Dr. William Hull, DDS explains that bleaching is a process that brightens teeth that are discolored, stained or have been darkened.  The chemical solution is an oxidizing agent that is painted onto the teeth. Then a special light be used to activate the agent. "There are two types of bleaching: chair side bleaching, usually done in the dentist's office in the course of three to four half hour visits. And the other is Nightguard bleaching. Here, a custom fit mouth guard is made for the patient the patient wears it at night using pre-measured amounts of the bleaching gel," says Dr. Hull.  How safe is the process? The American Dental Association confirms that bleaching is completely safe but recommends that a dentists supervises the treatment. What about those over-the-counter whitening products. The ADA is closed mouthed about these because they could expose more mouth tissue to the bleach than the professional treatment. 

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8/1/2008 11:12:00 PM