Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Other subjects
Original poster

Dentist mumsnetters??

49 replies

monkeytrousers · 28/11/2005 21:24

What is the stuff they use to bleach teeth with and are some teeth immune to it?

An odd question I know, but indulge me please..

OP posts:
melissasmummy · 01/12/2005 14:10

I had mine doen in the surgery, it was a one hour, one off application. The difference which I should have mentioned in my previous post is that it is light activated. saying that, you would get some change is you didn't use the light, just very minimal.

How long have you been using it? From what I remember home whitening shouldn't be done for longer than a month. But we recommended 2o mins per day for 2 weeks.

Original poster
monkeytrousers · 01/12/2005 14:19

I've been using it for about 5 days now regularly, for about half an hour each time. It's hard to keep going because of the sore throat though. I am putting less on so it doesn't overspill. So should I avoid tea??

OP posts:
melissasmummy · 01/12/2005 14:24

Give it a little longer then, lets see what happens. Have a cuppa, brush your teeth then half hour later use it.

That way your teeth are nice & clean & you won't conteract any work it may have done by having tea after. An hour or so would be enough time to leave it.

tracyk · 02/12/2005 09:30

I don't think it is the colour of the food/drink I think it is the staining properties of tea, coffee, red wine etc. Furigarde even tho green doesn't have staining properties.
I used my gel overnight and I have noticed a big diff in my teeth - just not the Hollywood white I would have loved to have had.

MelissasSecretSanta · 02/12/2005 13:57

It's the general colouring properties, not staining properties of the food. We advised a pure white or clear diet for 24 hours after treatment.

hub2dee · 02/12/2005 14:21
Original poster
monkeytrousers · 02/12/2005 14:39

lol

OP posts:
MelissasSecretSanta · 02/12/2005 21:37

hub2dee. Yes it does have a proper name, I think this is what you mean.

A) Air Abrasion
\link{http://www.dentalfearcentral.com/air_abrasion.html\HERE

B) It is relatively new to many practices, but has been around since 1940's! (Learn something new everyday)

C)I would choose white fillings. This is a better material by far due to it's bonding & sealing properties. Gold (IMO) doesn't look nice in the mouth.

D) Four does look good!

An not advertising the practice, only good article I could find

MelissasSecretSanta · 02/12/2005 21:38

Opps! Try again!

HERE

hub2dee · 04/12/2005 09:48

Thank you Mss.

It's funny it's making a bit of a come-back. The way it was outlined to me (and some of the text in the article supports this) is that you can treat smaller holes earlier, without needing to enlarge them to be big enough to 'take' a white / gold filling,

(Again, not quite sure if this is 100% right)...

The guy who explained this to me (yep, a dentist, though not one I go to) also mentioned a laser tool which is also referred to in the text....

Anyways, interesting what you say about gold fillings... I've gone for them recently because I believe they last longer and I don't really enjoy visiting your ilk, LOL !

MelissasSecretSanta · 04/12/2005 18:21

H2D, because white fillings bond to the tooth structure the the holes created can be much smaller.

Amalgam fillings rely on size & anchors (for want of a better word) as it doesn't bond on to the tooth. An anchor is when the hole is specially shaped to help lock in the material, (imagine a jigsaw piece), Amalgam needs a anchor to keep it in, hence the fact that the hole usually is bigger than the area of decay.

MelissasSecretSanta · 04/12/2005 18:24

H2D, Gold is one of the strongest materials on the market, if you don't mind the look then there is no other reason that I would say to avoid it. You have a good reason to use gold, but do be aware that ANY material can fail for whatever reasons, so don't use it as an excuse not to have regular check-ups!

hub2dee · 05/12/2005 08:02

I find the mere idea that I wouldn't have regular check-ups offensive, Mss.

Thanks for the explanations... I think the 'hole enlargement' and also 'anchor shaping' you describe (for amalgam / gold) are the reason why air abrasion looked rather interesting as it leaves more of the tooth intact.

MelissasSecretSanta · 05/12/2005 14:40

H2D, I honestly didn't mean to offend you, I was not for one minute suggesting that you wouldn't go back. Was just doing what us Dental people can't stop doing!

You would be surprised how many people get work done & decide not to go back, only to undo the hard work. Which is a shame all round!

hub2dee · 05/12/2005 15:09

LOL.

Had an Xray some several months back.... a few tiny holes.... not big enough to warrant drilling (yet... I presume dentist was thinking gold as I have some gold...) now I can feel that the work is more urgently required, LOL... but am hesitant to visit Dr. Doom, LOL.

See... this thing of taking out more healthy tooth just to be able to fit in a gold filling seems somewhat stupid to me... that's why I got interested in the microabrasion approach...

Anyway, I might call him ermmm.... tomorrow ?

MelissasSecretSanta · 05/12/2005 15:13

If you are suitable for micro abrasion, then why not! It would seem a shame to lose more tooth than you have too, no filling material is as strong as our teeth, so you always run the risk of further breakage when large amounts of tooth structure are removed.

hub2dee · 05/12/2005 15:38

oooh... didn't know there were suitability criteria... do you know what the indications / contra-indications are, Mss ?

PS - Wasn't being serious when claiming I was deeply offended, a few posts back. Hope you realise that ! Or I'll have to yell and then you'll see all my teeth, complete with gold and diamond decoration, LOL.

MelissasSecretSanta · 05/12/2005 16:05

I re-read your post & realised then, after I had posted!

It was only just coming in at the practice I was working at before having DD. But it's to do with suceptability (sp) to caries, diet, amount of caries already there etc.

If the caries is dead (black) then a drill will be needed (me thinks) as this is harder to removed than the softer active caries (brown).

Your dentist should be able to give you all the details & whether or not you are able to have it. Sorry I can't help more in this area, but I was mainly confined to reception in my last trimester so don't know all the criteria!

hub2dee · 05/12/2005 17:06

Interesting. Will enquire further. Thank you.

MelissasSecretSanta · 05/12/2005 21:42

You're welcome, let me know how it goes.

Good Luck!

hub2dee · 05/12/2005 22:04

PS - I don't recognise your name, Mss... (I appreciate it's in Christmas guise), but are you fairly new on MN or am I being dim ?

MelissasSecretSanta · 05/12/2005 22:14

I'm usually melissasmummy, have been around for a while, although not as often as I would like (housework, child to feed etc etc...)

hub2dee · 05/12/2005 22:28

Oh, you mean you have a RL ?

Anyway, nice to have 'met' you as I don't think we've posted a lot on the same threads. (Although my memory for names is as poor as my memory for faces, LOL).

MelissasSecretSanta · 05/12/2005 22:44

I recognise your name, but I don't remember posting on the same thread as you. I do names, I do faces, just can't, for the life of me, put a name to a face!

Nice to meet you 2, good luck with everything!

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread