One Hour vs. Take Home Whitening - Which Do We Prefer?

We do make One Hour Whitening available to our patients. It's a popular choice because of the fast results and we realize that most people these days live very hectic lives and sometimes a special occasion comes up before there's a chance to do take home whitening, and have white teeth in time for that special event.

We use Rembrandt's Sapphire Light when we do One Hour Whitening because it is the safest whitening light on the market since it does not use UV rays. Without the UV rays there is also less of a problem with tooth sensitivity, however, the sensitivity problem is much greater with One Hour Whitening than Take Home Whitening because a higher perentage of active whitening agent is present with in-office One Hour Whitening, in order to produce the fast results.

We also observe that it's really difficult for most people to stay perfectly still for one hour, and staying still is very important to keep the bleach from burning the gum tissue.

Research shows us that the best teeth whitening happens over time. Therefore, the best whitening is over time at home. Not only are the take home whitening results superior, they last longer. So unless you have your wedding or some other important event the next day, we advise our patients who want whiter teeth to do Take Home Whitening- it works better, lasts longer, has less problems with sensitivity (by the way, we have a pre-whitening protocol that virtually eliminates sensitivity of any kind in most cases), and it costs less than One Hour Whitening.

For information about other dental topics visit www.TavorminaDentistry.com

Dental Insurance Isn't Insurance

We hear many people say that they didn't visit the dentist for a long time because they didn't have insurance. We would like to discuss this point and shed some much needed light on the subject.

It's a sorry fact, but approximately 50% of the population doesn't visit a dentist regularly. Many of these people ascribe to the belief that they need dental insurance in order to afford dentistry. Well, the first point is that dental "insurance" actually is not insurance, but a benefit. Most plans are extremely limited and the benefit is around $1,000 per year. Even with a better plan that gives a higher benefit, if you have major dental problems, the dental benefit makes a small dent. So, if you had major dental problems, then you would have to cover most of the cost of dental services even with the help of a dental benefit.

Once you've established a baseline of health, it's questionable whether or not having the dental benefit is worth the premiums paid for it. We know what preventive and health maintenance services our patients need each year and we can calculate the fees for the year so our patients can budget for their checkups, cleanings, and necessary x-rays. When the calculations are complete, the services cost the same or less than most premiums for dental plans.

For information about other dental topics visit our website here: www.TavorminaDentistry.com