Bleaching Vs Whitening?
According to the FDA, the term “bleaching” is permitted to be used only when the teeth can be whitened beyond their natural colour. This applies strictly to products that contain bleach — typically hydrogen peroxide or carbamide peroxide. The term “whitening”, on the other hand, refers to restoring a tooth’s surface colour by removing dirt and debris. So any product that cleans (like a toothpaste) is considered a whitener. Of course, the term whitening sounds better than bleaching, so it is more frequently used — even when describing products that contain bleach. Whitening shade guides Before-and-after tooth colour is typically measured with shade guides. These are hand-held displays of wide ranges of tooth colours. The standard-setter among them has long been the Vitapan Classic Shade Guide. This shade guide standard incorporates 16 shades, systematically arranged from light to dark into four colour groups, and provides a universal tooth-colour terminology. While laser teeth whitening
