Tag Archives: COVID-19

Teeth Whitening

Premium Home Whitening Versus the Dentist

I want to whiten my teeth but I’ve been avoiding going anywhere with the surge of covid cases. I just feel like I need something to cheer me up. Looking online, one kit I see that has some positive reviews is Premium Home Whitening. How does this rank with what I’d get from my dentist? Will it actually whiten my teeth?

Gina

Dear Gina,

teeth whitening trays
Professional teeth whitening trays

I’ll start with the positive about this kit. The teeth whitening ingredient is valid and will whiten your teeth. So, if you decide to use this product and really stick with it, you could get some good results. That being said, I have some concerns.

Disadvantages to Premium Home Whitening

This first one I would not call a disadvantage as much as a red flag. The light they provide does nothing. It is simply a marketing ploy. Why not just sell the kit without it and lower the price. To me, that calls into question the integrity of the company and I’d wonder if the rest of what they list is true. For instance, is the whitening ingredient really the percentage they say it is?

The second is the whitening trays. These are not custom fit the way you would get with your dentist. Instead, you DIY them at home. This causes two problems with the whitening gel. Your saliva can get into the tray, which will weaken the strength of the gel. Now it will take more kits to do the same amount of work. In addition to that, your gel can leak from the tray. Not only does this further weaken the gel, but it puts your gums at risk of irritation. There have been cases where patients needed a root canal treatment as a result of an over-the-counter whitening kit because of this type of leakage.

My Recommendation

I would get your teeth whitening done with your dentist. In the long run, you should save money and it is safer. You mentioned concerns about COVID for not wanting to go in. Dentists are all taking extra precautions to ensure the safety of their patients, especially at this time. Something you could request is to ask to come at a time when they have fewer patients, that way you are not surrounded by as many people. Also, some patients have even requested they wait in their car and the receptionist just texts them when it is time to go back.

I hope this helped.
This blog is brought to you by Gilbert Dentist Dr. Matt Roper.

Dental Emergency

Can’t Afford Wisdom Tooth Extraction

I have a back, lower wisdom tooth that cracked some time back. Since then, I’ve been having problems with it falling apart little by little. More and more pieces are falling off. I don’t think there is any more pulp but the tooth is sensitive. I’m wondering if I can just let this slowly fall out by itself or if I have to go to the dentist to have it extracted. I’m dead broke so am hoping I can avoid the dentist. I lost my business during COVID, then got a job with another company and they’ve recently had to shut down as well. What do you think?

Paul

Dear Paul,

Man in pain, grabbing his cheek in need of emergency dental care.

I am sorry for all the losses you have sustained during COVID. Losing something you built up yourself is heartbreaking. Compound that with the stress of not feeling like you can afford the care you need and I really feel for your situation. There are a couple of ways this can go. First, it is possible that the tooth will just slowly fall out on its own with no problems for you. However, there is also a possibility that an infection will get into your bone and cause pretty serious problems.

One thing that confuses me about your description is the idea that you don’t think there is any more pulp but the tooth is sensitive. If the infection got into the pulp then the tooth should be dead and it would not be sensitive, unless you are talking about sensitivity to when you are biting down instead of being sensitive to air.

Given your financial situation, here is what I am going to recommend. As long as you don’t have any swelling around your jaw, you are safe to wait this out and hope the tooth dies away on its own. If you start to have swelling, then you have an emergency dental situation and you need to see a dentist as soon as possible.

There are affordable dentists who would be willing to work with you on the payment issue. This would be especially true for someone in your situation who needs real help.

This blog is brought to you by Gilbert Dentist Dr. Matt Roper.