Not everything that’s popular is actually good for you. Just think about all those “cool” kids who smoked cigarettes in high school. Yeah, they were widely popular. However, with the tar, nicotine and other harmful substances, the longtime smokers are certainly suffering for it. At the very least, your teeth are shot from the habit – dingy and yellow and far removed from that bright white you once knew.
That ties in the overall theme here – popularity. Having a bright, healthy smile is important to almost everyone, and whether your smile isn’t all it can be due to smoking or drinking coffee or lack or care or simply genetics, the popular remedy today is to use teeth-whitening products. But do they really work?
A Closer Look at Whiteners
Ingredients
Most over-the-counter whiteners, whether we’re speaking about strips or gels, have relatively the same ingredient base that a professional dentist would use. The recipes aren’t always exact and the dentist may have a few more tricks up his or her sleeve, but the active ingredients are usually very similar, and teeth whiteners produce such great results that sales numbers are going up by millions each month, even in a shoddy economy.
Cost Effectiveness
The price is what’s most appealing to some people. The average trip to the dentist for a one-time whitening can be very expensive, and the odds that your insurance covers it are slim to none. Whitening is an elective procedure, so, on pricing alone, whitening products “work” in a big way for millions of consumers.
Ease of Use
This is always something to be considered when you think about how well whiteners actually work for consumers. Most whiteners come in either strips or gels, able to be put on easily at night. It’s as simple as putting the product on and refraining from eating or drinking for a while.
There’s no sitting in a chair and having some stranger poke and prod at your teeth and gums with sharp instruments and alien-like laser lights. You put the product on and get on with your life.
Overall, over-the-counter teeth-whitening products are working to put some dentists out of business completely. Not only do whiteners provide tangible results for almost everyone who uses the products correctly, but they’re also far less expensive, easier to use, do not cause any pain or discomfort, and have zero side effects if used correctly.
It’s hard for a dentist to compete with the whitening products on the market today. It’s almost like going to a book store and paying for a novel if you can get it online for free and read it on your Kindle.
The dentist isn’t a totally antiquated option; you still need cavities taken care of and braces put on. But for teeth whitening, the dentist is certainly starting to go the way of the dodo.