Get Your Best Smile for Those Holiday Photos with Professional Teeth Whitening

Your smile is a luminous expression of your personality — the last thing you want people to notice when you flash your pearly whites are stained teeth that look dull and discolored. And you certainly don’t want to immortalize a lackluster smile in this year’s holiday photos!

Fortunately, cosmetic dentistry expert Dr. Hannah Baek and our team at Healthy Smile Dental in Woodridge, Illinois, have the perfect solution: professional teeth whitening. 

Let’s explore how a single in-office whitening treatment can lift stubborn stains, reverse discoloration, restore whiter teeth, and leave your smile several shades brighter just in time for that holiday family photo session.

Understanding tooth discoloration

Strong oral hygiene habits backed by twice-yearly dental cleanings and exams can help you maintain a healthy mouth and a beautiful smile. Unfortunately, a solid oral health care routine can’t always keep your enamel from becoming dull, stained, or discolored.

Enamel microchannels

The sneaky staining process starts on the exterior of your enamel, where food particles and liquid residues make their way into microscopic surface grooves and indentations every time you eat. 

Improper or infrequent brushing can allow these enamel-penetrating residues to build up on your teeth, eventually leading to visible staining, dimming, or discoloration. 

Powerful stain molecules 

Even if you do brush properly, your enamel is still susceptible to discoloration if it’s frequently exposed to the powerful, chromophore-rich stain molecules in coffee, tea, red wine, berries, and other dark-colored foods and drinks. Tobacco use can also lead to dental stains.

Get a whiter smile in less than an hour

Professional teeth whitening has come a long way since the early days of chairside bleaching. Today’s in-office treatments combine gentler techniques with advanced technology to deliver a whitening experience that’s safer, faster, and more effective than ever before. 

Our team at Healthy Smile Dental offers next-level whitening with Philips Zoom, a customized treatment that uses clinical-strength whitening gel and blue LED light-accelerated technology to lift deep stain molecules, clear your enamel, and brighten your smile in less than an hour.

After Dr. Baek determines you’re a suitable candidate for Zoom whitening, she can get started on the easy four-step process:

1. Clean and polish your teeth to get rid of any plaque or tartar
2. Carefully cover your lips and gums with a protective shield
3. Apply full-strength, nonabrasive whitening gel to your teeth 
4. Use a special blue LED light to activate the whitening agents

The blue LED light also helps loosen and lift the stubborn stains that cause deep discoloration. And because it’s as gentle as it is effective, Zoom whitening won’t dehydrate your enamel or make it feel more sensitive.

This 15-minute process — applying the whitening agent and activating it with the special blue light — is repeated up to three times until your enamel reaches the desired shade of white. 

In just one 45-minute appointment, Zoom whitening can make your smile up to eight shades brighter on the VITA enamel color scale.

Keep your whitening results long-term 

With consistent oral hygiene habits and twice-yearly dental visits, you can expect your whiter, brighter smile to last for a long time. Depending on your dietary choices and brushing routine, your whitening results may last 1-3 years.

To help you maintain your fresh new smile for as long as possible, Dr. Baek offers take-home touch-up whitening kits with custom trays that fit perfectly over your teeth.

If you’re ready for a whiter, brighter smile, we can help. To learn more about professional teeth whitening or schedule a visit with Dr. Baek, call or click online today.