Laser Teeth Whitening in California

Laser whitening is an in office technique that combines a translucent gel medium with light emitted from a laser beam. After a cosmetic dentist thoroughly cleans the patient's teeth, a rubber dam or wax is placed on the gums (depending on the cosmetic dentist's preference) for protection against the bleaching agents. A gel that has a peroxide base is applied to the individual teeth and a blue beamed argon laser is focused on each tooth for approximately 20 seconds each. The two different types of lasers that are used in laser whitening techniques are the blue argon laser and the red beamed C02 laser. The blue beam is used first and is absorbed by the dark areas on the tooth due to staining and, for further whitening and deeper penetration into the tooth, the heat producing infrared beam laser (C02) is used. The laser whitening process generally takes between 2 to 3 hours and when it is complete, a protective coating is brushed onto each tooth as teeth may become porous due to the bleaching technique.

Laser light bleaching techniques are a faster means to obvious results from bleaching. Laser light is used because it activates crystals in the gel medium so that they may be absorbed into the tooth enamel to eradicate staining that can be caused by cigarette smoking, medication or genetics. prices for laser techniques vary and usually cost over $1,000.00 dollars.