Teeth Whitening

Frequently Asked Questions

This is a question that can really only be answered once we have seen the teeth. Teeth with a yellow undertone will bleach the best. Teeth with a brown undertone will bleach slightly, and teeth with a blue undertone are usually the result of antibiotic stained teeth when you were little, and these bleaching results would be poor. We advise all our patients first, if they would be good candidates for the procedure or not. There is a good alternative for antibiotic stained teeth where the teeth will become lighter and the lines on the teeth not so noticeable any longer. This however is not with the Zoom tooth whitening gel and UVA light.

No. Studies show that the human enamel does not get brittle or broken down when using the Zoom tooth whitening system. Microanatomy does not change at all, i.e. no damage gets done to your teeth.

This also varies from patient to patient, but worst case scenario would be a sharp pain every now and again lasting for 8 hours after the treatment. A relief gel is provided just to rehydrate the teeth, if this is the case.

The good “side-effect” of the Zoom procedure is your white teeth.

Crowns will not bleach. If you have crowns at the back of your mouth, this would not truly have an impact on whether to bleach or not, seeing that it is not in your ‘smile line’. – Front crowns, would have to be assessed first to see if they would need replacing or not. – When the crown/crowns are old, the colour of the natural teeth would have gone yellow, so then the bleaching only would suffice. – If, however the crown or crowns have recently been done, they would definitely look more yellow after the teeth whitening procedure. These would then have to be replaced. – You will however be advised of all of this before your bleaching procedure

Zoom tooth whitening is a permanent procedure. You have to maintain it however, with touch-ups every year or two. We provide you with the gel and the trays.

The cleaning of the teeth takes about half an hour, and the actual whitening process one hour.

Lips get isolated from the UVA light that activates the gel, so we take care that you do not get a sun-tan only in the lip area! Gums get isolated from the peroxide gel that is applied on the teeth. Should the gel get onto the gums however, it will appear like a white patch. This will disappear in one or two days.

Yes. This is probably the safest dental cosmetic procedure. It is advised that pregnant or lactating woman wait with the process.