Teeth are made of salt crystals similar to common table salt. Everyone's done the experiment where you hang some yarn into a glass of salt water and large salt crystals form on the yarn as the water evaporates. The crystals are white. What makes teeth yellow or dark is the stuff that gets stuck inside the salt.

          Dental whitening involves soaking teeth in a liquid that goes into the tooth and dissolves everything that is not part of the crystal. The result is that the tooth is left with it's natural white color.

          The first step is to be sure that there is nothing wrong with your teeth. A comprehensive examination is performed with complete x-rays. Impressions are taken of the upper and lower teeth and plaster statues are made that are exactly the same as the patient's mouth. Very precise clear rubber covers are then made that fit to the patient's teeth extremely well. The dentist then checks the fit of these covers and provides the patient with detailed instructions.

          The patient then places a small amount of the whitening material into the covers and wears them for approximately 4 hours per day for two days. If there are no problems the patient then wears the covers for eight hours while sleeping for one week.

          The primary problem that might result is tooth sensitivity to hot and cold. If this happens we desensitize the patient's teeth for two weeks using a professional strength fluoride instead of the whitening material. The whitening procedure is again resumed with a four hour per day schedule.

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