TEETH BLEACHING- PREFACE

Everyone wants to have whiter teeth. Does that mean that we can provide bleaching treatments for every patient? Yes, well almost! There are a vast number of patients in dental practices who will be asking for these services. Dentists need to know the indications and contraindications and how to do these bleaching procedures.

Bleaching treatments are not new, and attempts to bleach teeth were even performed in the previous century. They involved the patient sitting for many hours in front of a heated bleaching Lamp and the treatments were very costly and unpredictable. We now have bleaching techniques that are simple and more predictable.

The idea that teeth can be lightened and whitened in a simple way, by using a nightguard, was a pioneering discovery, which led to the publication of the first article by Haywood and Heymann in 1989. Since then the scope of bleaching treatment we have available to offer our patients has increased exponentially.

The amount of information that is now available on bleaching is vast and there has been a tremendous surge of clinical and invitro research on bleaching. There is stiLL much research to be undertaken and there are many areas in bleaching where our clinical and academic knowledge is not evidence-based and what we use on an everyday basis is purely empirical. The dental companies have become involved in the bleaching market very quickLy as they stand to gain financiaLLy from the patient demand for whiter teeth. There are many products on the market and this can be confusing to many dentists, especially in selecting materials to use for their patients and in selecting whitening toothpastes and other adjunctive products.

Bleaching treatments can be incorporated into all kinds of restorative dentistry and it is the purpose of this book to help dentists to successfully incorporate the wide variety of bleaching

treatments into their practices through the many sequences of illustrations: how to start the bleaching treatments, 'how-to-do-it', how to select the patients as well how as to inform dentists about the bleaching techniques. Although the book is meant for cl:inicians~both undergraduate and postgraduate, it can also be used to demonstrate to patients what is involved in the bleaching techniques and the type of results that can be achieved.

There are not many laboratory techniques used ill. the bleaching treatments; however, the rna king of the appropriate bleaching trays is essential and there is a special chapter on how to make and design these trays. This section can be used by laboratory technicians or for those dentists who wish to make trays at the chairside or teach their dental assistants to make them.

As dentists are very busy people, they may not have time to read the entire text in one go. The book is meant to be user-friendly so that it can be paged through or the relevant sections quickly scanned where necessary. There are sample forms of the kind that can be used ill denta I practice for patients. However, since the legal considerations are specific for each country, dentists wishing to provide bleaching services for their patients should be acquainted with their country's legal standing before undertaking any bleaching treatments.

There are many different names used for the bleaching treatments that are available. The terminology used in the book will be kept simple: different names will be mentioned in each chapter as appropriate and then the simplest, most descriptive term will be used.

I have included a list of references and further reading at the end of each chapter. I have tried to include as much of the research as possible, but where the research is lacking I have included other clinical references. 1 would value readers' comments and feedback, so please write to me, care of the publishers.

Linda Greernuall