Fixing Up an Old Problem with a New Technology

I think we all have aspects of ourselves that we’re not thrilled with. For me it’s recently come down to my teeth. When I was a kid, my family was never much on dental hygiene. In a sense I suppose I should be a bit grateful that things didn’t turn out worse. I still have all my teeth, and they’re not especially crooked or damaged in terms of structure. However, they did wind up damaged in a different way. A childhood spent sipping sugary dark drinks has combined with an adulthood spent drinking massive amounts of tea. These two things created an adult whose teeth were heavily stained. In short, it created an adult afraid to smile. All that began to change when I saw an advert for zoom teeth whitening.

I’d seen family members try teeth whitening products in the past. Seeing how little it was able to do to the type of damage I had, and given the way genetics tends to predict things, I never had much hope. However, the big difference here is that it wasn’t something I’d just pick up from a shop. Instead the zoom tooth whitening was actually coming from an established dental practice. This seemed like a really heavy duty cure that might be able to even tackle my big problem.

Part of the process involved coming in to have them check you out for viability. As such, I decided it was at least worth a try. So I came in and asked if I could try out zoom whitening. They did a really quick examination on me that hardly even lasted minutes. After that we just went through some questions and decided on the shade of white that I’d want.

We scheduled another appointment, and then it was time for the actual treatment. The first thing that struck me was just how fast it was. I wasn’t really keeping track of the time, but I doubt it could have been even a full hour. I was a bit worried about how it might work, but they gave me a great explanation of what was happening in my mouth.

Basically, they were using a special gel on my teeth. This gel was designed to release hydrogen peroxide onto the surface of my teeth. Here’s where things really get interesting though. I had assumed it would somehow eat through the coloured surface of the teeth. But instead, the gel actually winds up releasing the hydrogen peroxide onto the coloured surface. This then begins a process of essentially bleaching it white. The main factor in the process is using a lighting system to activate the gel’s bleaching reaction. The light component was what delighted me most about the process. It meant that the gel would also be working for a while simply due to exposure to sunlight. A week later, I’m happy to say that it’s like having a whole new set of teeth. I can smile without concern for the first time in my adult life.