Not long back, the concept of dental treatment was limited to removal of teeth and replacement with dentures. But with new advancement in the field of dental sciences, theres hardly any need for removal of teeth if the problem gets diagnosed and cured at a proper time. Today, there are number of specializations in the field of dentistry, each dealing with a different aspect of the tooth problem.

There is prosthodontics dealing with replacement of teeth with beautiful crowns, bridges and dentures, orthodontics alignment of irregular teeth and jaws with invisible and visible braces, periodontics treatment of gum problems, specialized problems of childrens teeth et al. Besides all this, stress is being laid on cosmetic dentistry and smile designing which includes enhancement of facial aesthetics with new dental procedures such as bleaching and veneering of teeth.

Bleaching is a process that involves whitening of discolored or dark teeth by means of chemical agent. This procedure can be performed either in the dental clinic or even at home. In the clinic, the procedure involves application of a bleaching agent on the teeth and making appropriate sized impressions of the teeth of the individual patient then loading of trays with chemicals for their application on the teeth for one to two hours. Depending upon the degree of discoloration and cosmetic results desired by the patient, the procedure is repeated.

The other new advanced procedure involves application of a bleaching agent directly on the teeth by the dentist, without any use of trays and without repeated sittings. This procedure can be completed in just one or two sittings of 30-45 minutes.

Another technique is prescribed by dentists for use by patients at their homes. This involves making of individualized trays of a patient followed by loading of the trays with the chemical agents by patients as per their dentist instructions and then keeping them in the mouth usually for a period of six to eight hours. The total treatment time is usually 15-20 days. The advantages of in office bleaching technique are that it is totally under the dentists control, the soft tissues of patient are protected and it has the potential of bleaching teeth very rapidly and successfully.

The two most common side affect of bleaching is temporary sensitivity of teeth and irritated gums. Go on; get a set of bright, sparkling teeth.