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Tanda Pearl Teeth Whitening System

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I have TMJ disorder and have noticed that my jaw hurts more when I am whitening my teeth. I recently read about the Tanda Pearl Ionic Teeth Whitening System. It touts to work in 5 minutes a day. I think that would really help my jaw pain. Have you seen this system? Is it legitimate?

Mary Grace

Dear Mary Grace,

teeth bleaching trays

Teeth Bleaching Trays

I am sorry you have been having jaw pain. One thing I am wondering is whether you are doing your teeth whitening through your dentist? If so, did he make a custom-fitted bleaching tray for your procedure? If not, that is the very first thing I would talk to him or her about.

As for the Tanda Pearl System, I looked into this. Its main ingredient is a peroxide gel. That is a viable teeth whitening solution and the same basic ingredient you would get with any other whitening system. There are some differences to consider before making your decision.

The “Ionic” Technology

Something that niggles at me about this is that they provide zero information about their special technology. There does not seem to be anything special about it. If it did work, they’d make more money marketing it to dental offices, but they don’t do that. This makes me wonder if they don’t want it looked at too closely because it is only there for psychological reasons. I don’t like it when companies or even medical practitioners manipulate patients. They could leave that light out altogether and save their customers money.

The Whitening Period

They say it will whiten your teeth in five minutes use each day. Sure, that could happen. It could happen equally with another system as well. Essentially, the longer you wear the whitening gel, the faster your teeth will whiten. There is nothing magical about the amount of time. If your jaw aches, I would wear your current trays for less time until you have a chance to visit your dentist about your bleaching trays.

The Tanda Tray

I placed a picture above of the type of bleaching trays your dentist should have provided for you. Notice there is a separate tray for each arch of your teeth. The Tanda system is different. It uses a single tray for both arches of your teeth. You have to bite down on it in order to keep it in place. In my opinion, that will increase the pain you are experiencing in your jaw, not help it.

Another thing to consider is you bite down to “create” your trays with Tanda Pearl. This will not be a tight fit. That means that whitening gel will leak out, which weakens its effectiveness. Saliva will also leak in, which (again) weakens the gel.

Your safest option is to talk to your dentist about the pain you are feeling and see if you can get to the bottom of it.

This blog is brought to you by Duluth, GA Dentist Dr. David Marion.

Bleach Your Teeth With Clorox?

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My dentist has this Zoom machine for whitening teeth, but I want to whiten my teeth at home and wondered if it is possible to use Clorox Bleach to do it. I was considering rinsing my teeth with it. Will that work?

Dan

Dear Dan,

teeth bleaching trays

Teeth Bleaching Trays

That is interesting. While it could probably whiten your teeth, one thing you should be aware of is that Clorox is a base, such as lye. It’s a rather powerful base at that. This means it can burn living tissue. Believe it or not dentists use it in root canal treatments to do just that.

The active ingredient in household bleach is sodium hypochlorite. This can be used to clean out the organic debris left in a tooth canal all while simultaneously disinfecting it. Rinsing with it regularly inside your mouth is a bad idea because it can burn or damage your gums and inside of your cheeks.

If your goal is to bleach at home, talk to your dentist. There are professional teeth bleaching trays that will allow you to do this. Your dentist will custom-fit them to your bite and provide you with the professional strength whitening gel. You will have all the benefits of at-home whitening without the inherent danger that comes from using Clorox or another household bleach.

I hope this helps.
This blog is brought to you by Duluth, GA Dentist Dr. David Marion.

Can’t I Just Rinse with Peroxide to Whiten My Teeth?

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If the teeth whitening gel is made from peroxide, can I just rinse with the hydrogen peroxide I get at the store? Aren’t they the same thing?

Carl

Dear Carl,

teeth bleaching trays

While it is true you could get some mild whitening effect from the peroxide you buy in the store, it will be very mild. There are two reasons for this. First is the strength. The peroxide you get at the store is 3% in strength. The minimum strength you should be getting from professional teeth whitening is 22%. Some are even stronger.

The second issue is absorption. In order for the gel to make any real difference, it would have to stay on your teeth for a minimum of 15 to 20 minutes. That is a long time to try to rinse. It is also the reason dentists will provide you with bleaching trays. You can put the gel in the whitening trays and wear them for as long as is comfortable. The longer you wear them, the more effective they are.

Many patients will wear them overnight because this gives the most bang for their buck. In addition to having them on for many more hours than you would normally tolerate during the day, you also will gain effectiveness. Because your saliva production goes down at night there will be less dilution.

Just remember, no matter what type of teeth whitening you do, it will only whiten your natural tooth structure. If you have any dental work, such as a dental crown, that will stay the same color. After you reach the level of whitening you want, if the dental work is visible, you’ll want to replace the crown. This way your crown can match your new brighter, whiter color.

This blog is brought to you by Duluth, GA Dentist Dr. David Marion.

Can I Whiten My Dental Implant?

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I had a dental implant placed. It isn’t on a front tooth but it is visible when I smile. Recently, I had my teeth whitened, but the dental implant tooth didn’t whiten at all. Now it is really obvious that it is fake because the rest of my teeth are so much whiter than this one tooth. What do I use to whiten the dental implant?

Maxwell

Dear Maxwell,

illustration of a dental implant next to a tooth

I will say that I am frustrated on your behalf. It seems neither your dentist or implant dentist understands how dental implants or teeth whitening works. When you have your teeth whitened, it will only whiten your natural teeth. The dental crown on your implant will be the same.

Because of that, a wise dentist who is providing dental implants will make sure their patients are aware if they want to whiten their teeth at some point, it will be better for them to do so before their implant crown is made. Once that color is made it is permanent.

That doesn’t mean you will be stuck with an ugly tooth. The solution is to have the implant crown replaced. It can be re-made to match your new whiter color. This does cost more, which is why I always recommend whitening get done first.

It is a shame that you were not advised of this ahead of time.

This blog is brought to you by Duluth, GA Dentist Dr. David P. Marion.

Expert Tips on Teeth Whitening

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A few years ago, I had my teeth whitened, but they have since picked up more stains. I’m a heavy coffee drinker and knew that would be an issue. Now I need a dental crown on one of my teeth and my dentist wants to schedule me for next week. It’s visible when I smile so I did some research. It seems like it is better to whiten them again before I get the crown placed, but I can’t tell how long I need to get them the right color again. Can you advise me?

Amanda

Dear Amanda,

teeth bleaching trays

While I am going to give you some advice on teeth whitening, I am a little concerned about a couple of things I’m inferring from what you wrote. First, you are having to do this research on your own to figure out what to do. This is unfair to you. Your dentist is supposed to have this training already. He should have advised you that if you wanted to touch up your teeth whitening to do it before getting the dental crown made. One thing we can be grateful for is you figured it out. That’s fantastic! Too many patients don’t and end up having to pay for their crown to be re-done to match the teeth they whiten after the procedure.

A second concern I have is your dentist can’t advise you on the best way to touch up. These two things combined lead me to conclude that he doesn’t have the cosmetic training and skills to do a porcelain crown on your front teeth. These take a lot of skill to not only get to look beautiful, but to blend in with the remainder of your teeth. You may want to ask to see some before and after pictures of cases he’s done similar to yours to see what type of results he gets. If he doesn’t have a smile gallery with photos of his work, then he doesn’t do much cosmetic work and you should see someone else for this procedure.

How Long to Whiten Your Teeth

The basic principle is the longer you can wear your bleaching trays (with the gel in them, of course), the faster your teeth will whiten. The minimum you should leave them in is 15 minutes. The maximum is overnight. While you sleep, your saliva flow goes down which allows the gel to stay in the trays longer, giving you maximum whitening. Some dentists will tell you that you need a special gel made for nighttime whitening, but that isn’t the case. They all contain peroxide. You can wear them during the day as long as you want as well, as long as you are not developing sensitivity.

Once you’ve reached the level of whitening you want, give your teeth a week or two to settle before having the crown made. Oxygen bubbles will still release in your teeth for this amount of time after you stop whitening.

This blog is brought to you by Duluth, GA Dentist Dr. David Marion.