In the 1960's dental manufactures invented teeth bleaching agents. These agents were designed to make teeth that have darkened from age, tea, coffee, tobacco, or some antibiotics, a nice white color. The dental manufactures used a chemical agent called carbamide peroxide to produce the whitening effect. (Tooth Whitening Systems, p.1).
In order for this procedure to work a dentist will need to perform a thorough dental examination prior to the initiation of the teeth whitening process. As a part of the examination a dentist will document the current shade of the teeth. During the examination, the dentist and the patient must discuss and decide if the patient wants to whiten both the upper and the lower teeth, or just one or the other. The dentist will also identify any dental work that exists on the teeth that the patients wish to be whitened. The shade of any existing restorations will not whiten. (Teeth Whitening/Teeth Bleaching, p.4).
There are many ways in which teeth bleaching can be performed. The YSU Dental Hygiene Clinic accomplishes teeth whitening as follows. First, the dentist will take an impression of the patient's teeth. The impression will then be formed into stone models. Then, plastic material is melted onto the stone model by a machine. The plastic material is then removed from the stone models and cut in a scalloped fashion to fit over the patient's teeth and rest short of touching the gums. Next, the dentist will place the carbamide peroxide material in the plastic tray and then place tray into the patient's mouth. Then, the dentist will place either a light source or a heat source over the trays. This will automatically whiten the patient's teeth. However, the patient might want to follow up with a home care bleaching to retain the white color. .
Some of the side effects that can occur with teeth bleaching are an increase of hot and cold sensitivity in a person's teeth and irritation of a person's gums.