Teeth Whitening For Teens
in Clear Lake

We offer both in-office teeth whitening and take-home teeth whitening. In-office whitening is done by Dr. Brock in our Clear Lake pediatric dental office, and can whiten your teen’s smile by up to 5-10 shades in just one appointment. It’s a great option if your teen wants fast results for an event like prom, homecoming, or class photos.
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Take-home whitening is a bit different. In this method of whitening, Dr. Brock will build a custom whitening tray for your teen, and they’ll whiten their teeth at home over a period of several weeks. Some teens prefer this, since their results will be more gradual. At-home whitening provides the same results as in-office treatment, but it usually takes 2-3 weeks to reach maximum brightness.

If your teen is getting in-office whitening, the procedure will begin with a thorough teeth cleaning at Big Picture Pediatric Dentistry. Then, Dr. Brock will apply special liquid to protect their gums, and separate their cheeks, tongue, and lips from their teeth. After this, he will apply a powerful whitener to their teeth and activate it with UV light. After this, he’ll rinse the whitener away, and check your teen’s teeth. Then, he’ll repeat this process several times, until your teen’s teeth have reached their desired brightness.
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For take-home whitening, your teen will come in for a quick visit to our office. Dr. Brock will take a mold of their smile, and send this to a dental lab. There, a set of custom-made whitening trays will be built. Your teen will come back to our office in a few weeks to pick these trays up. At this time, Dr. Brock will also give them a set of professional-grade whitening compounds, and instructions on how to use them. Then, your teen just has to go home, whiten their teeth according to these instructions, and enjoy their new smile!

Yes. It’s quite common for whitening-induced sensitivity to affect teens, even those without a history of tooth sensitivity. However, this goes away shortly after their treatment is over. If your teen’s teeth are very sensitive, there are a few steps they can take to feel more comfortable.
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For example, avoiding really hot and cold foods will help reduce sensitivity. It’s also a good idea to brush with Sensodyne or a similar sensitivity toothpaste. Using a soft-bristled toothbrush may also help reduce sensitivity.

Teeth whitening is not permanent. It’s a temporary procedure that lasts for as long as you maintain it. However, it has a maximum life expectancy of about 3 years and can fade in as little as 6 months if you don’t do anything to protect your teeth from stains.

The more you consume staining foods and drinks such as highly pigmented berries, dark sauces, beetroot, coffee, tea, and red wine, the sooner your bright smile will start to become discolored.

The solution is to limit your exposure to these staining foods and drinks but you can also drink through a straw and rinse your mouth with water after eating to limit the exposure of stains to your enamel. You should avoid smoking and tobacco products completely if you want to maintain a white smile.

Practicing good oral hygiene by brushing and flossing your teeth every day is also important because it removes food particles and bacteria from your mouth so you don’t end up with plaque buildup.

Plaque is a yellow substance that can discolor your teeth. Get dental cleanings every 6 months to remove surface stains and plaque buildup. A cleaning can brighten your teeth, but not to the extent of a full whitening treatment.

The best way to maintain your whitening results is to limit exposure to stains and top up your whitening treatment once a year.

We do not recommend whitening teeth while undergoing orthodontic treatment for a few reasons. The first reason is that it’s not going to be very effective at whitening the surfaces that are covered with metal brackets and wires. 

Secondly, for this reason, you will be left with an uneven smile that is noticeably whiter in certain areas than others. While braces can cause tooth discoloration because of difficulty cleaning under brackets and wires or because of exposure to staining foods and drinks, it’s best to wait until orthodontic treatment is complete to whiten your smile.

Once you’ve corrected your tooth alignment, speak to your dentist about whitening. You may need to wait a few weeks to avoid excessive tooth sensitivity and irritation but as long as you’re in good oral health, there should be no problem with undergoing teeth whitening after your braces have been removed. This will produce the best and most effective results.

No, over-the-counter whitening products do not work the same as dental-grade whitening products for many different reasons. The ingredients in over-the-counter whitening products are at very different concentrations and most of them are not ADA-approved. 

This means that the concentration of peroxide may be too high to be safe to use on your teeth or it could be so low that it won’t produce any results. When you go to the dentist for a professional whitening, we administer an FDA-approved whitening agent to your teeth at a safe and tested concentration that has shown to drastically improve discoloration without damaging or irritating your gums and teeth.

Even our whitening trays for take-home whitening are custom-made to fit over your teeth and don’t run over the gums so that we can prevent the whitening agent from coming into contact with your gums. 

For in-office whitening, we use a protective gel and cheek protractors to prevent peroxide from touching the gums. Over-the-counter products are likely to come into contact with your mouth’s soft tissues and cause pain or irritation.