If you're frustrated with your dark or yellow teeth and the whitening products you've tried don't seem to work, talk to your dentist about your options. The teeth whitening procedure at your dentist's office yields much better results than you can get from the products you use at home. Plus, your teeth are whiter the same day, as opposed to the gradual whitening you get with over-the-counter products.

The first step is to talk to your dentist about the condition of your teeth to see if your teeth will respond to the whitening procedure. Here are the situations where whitening is ideal and when it doesn't work very well.

Removing Food And Beverage Stains

If your teeth are discolored by coffee, smoking, or food stains, then bleaching your teeth should give you good results. These stains tend to give your teeth a yellowish color that can be bleached out so your teeth are left bright and white.

One thing to remember is that your teeth will become discolored again if you continue to smoke or drink coffee. Once your teeth have been whitened by your dentist, be sure to brush daily and have your teeth cleaned regularly so you can hold onto your bright smile for as long as possible.

If your teeth have a lot of stain buildup, you might need multiple treatments from your dentist to achieve the degree of whiteness you're looking for. Each person is different, and while you'll see results after a single treatment, you may need more treatments if you're going for dazzling white teeth.

Brightening Gray Teeth From An Injury

If your teeth have a gray appearance rather than yellow, then whitening may not help. Your dentist will evaluate your teeth and decide if whitening is the right treatment.

Other reasons for dark teeth are side effects of medication and thinning of your enamel. Neither of these respond as well to whitening either. Thinning enamel happens sometimes due to aging. The thinner covering of enamel allows the pulp to show through as a dark or yellow stain. This can't be removed with bleaching, since the color is inside the teeth. However, bleaching can help teeth that are yellow due to accumulated stains as a result of aging.

Teeth that are gray from medications or an injury may not respond to bleaching, but your dentist can help improve their appearance in other ways, such as bonding or veneers. For that reason, you should seek your dentist's advice even if you don't think you're a good candidate for whitening and you haven't gotten any results from over-the-counter treatments.

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