whitening toothpaste and braces

[inbrace]

I have heard mixed comments on this. My sister did it while having braces and she never dealt with discoloration but i have seen people who after their braces have the square and it's yellowie.
can you use whitening toothpaste with braces?

[Sunny]

Yes ... you definitely can and we recommend our patients use it.

Never use commercial whitening products while you have brackets bonded to your teeth, as the area under the bracket is not touched by the product and you will end up with discoloured teeth that will cost a lot of money to get corrected colour wise ... if it is possible.

If you have some minor staining issues, whitening toothpaste ... which does not whitening, (coz if it did, there'd be no need for the multi billion dollar 'teeth whitening' businesses) but may remove recent staining, as long as it's light and very recent. Whitening toothpastes will not change the shade of your teeth, so they're safe.

If the area where the bracket was is a different colour to the rest of the tooth, it may be due to the uncovered area staining and not having been cleaned properly. This is easily corrected by your dentist, as long as decay hasn't started to occur. If it's due to using commercial whitening products, the person would need to see a professional to check if it can be corrected, as whitening whites the whole tooth, which means that the piece that is stained may always appear a different colour.

[inbrace]

oh awesome! can you recommend a toothpaste that i can purchase at a local grocery store?

[Sunny]

My favourites are - colgate with peroxide and baking soda and sensodyne whitening total.

Good luck finding the right toothpaste for you!

[MsMichelle]

My ortho and dentist both recommend I use sensodyne

I also use Colgate whitening foam, because it cleans even the places I can't get to and keeps my teeth looking great.

[stevie23]

I remember I was quite disappointed when I got my braces off as a teenager to see that each bracket had left yellow marks on every tooth. Ugh. The glue they put on was dark orange, and it stained. Only in the past 8 or so years has that properly gone away, with the use of one professional whitening session at a dentist, and years of constant whitening toothpaste brushing.

[Sunny]

Stevie whitening toothpaste doesn't remove old stains, although it may remove some recent staining. Did your ortho explain why you had those marks on your teeth? It sounds like an oral hygiene issue ... or maybe you didn't have your teeth cleaned before your brackets were bonded? Bonding will stain while it's on your teeth due to the foods you eat ... this is not the fault of the ortho. This staining shouldn't stain your teeth though, as those areas are bonded tight.

It's good it's been sorted with professional whitening!