The many “faces” of professional teeth whitening

Teeth whitening is not a single product, treatment, or technique at Orange and Magnolia Dental Studio in Costa Mesa, California. Our lead dentist, Dr. Joyce Kahng, customizes treatment plans to your specific needs, goals, and personal characteristics. Regardless of the whitening method or the product that we recommend to reveal your most dazzling smile, all of our professional options are effective, safe, comfortable, and of great value. 

Products, services you can trust 

Many of the products that claim to whiten teeth, available at the store or online, either contain little effective whitening ingredients or are not formulated with clinically proven ingredients. As a dental professional, Dr. Kahng has the insights, knowledge, and credibility to recommend those products that are prepared to work and are safe. She may recommend strips, pastes, mouthwashes, or even paint-on products that are not a waste of money.

Additionally, one of the healthiest things that you can do for your mouth also promotes a dazzling smile; routine professional cleanings by our dental hygienists lift plaque build-up and lift surface stains.

Take-home whitening 

Patients who have years of stains from habits such as coffee- or tea-drinking can benefit from the Opalescence™ system. Opalescence™ effectively and gradually whitens teeth from the comfort of home. If Dr. Kahng determines that you are a good candidate for home whitening, she will advise how to wear the whitening trays or oral appliances that deliver the potent whitening gel to your teeth. You slip the trays into your mouth and wear them each day as instructed by your dentist. Since Dr. Kahng oversees every aspect of treatment, there is peace of mind that your comfort, and the appearance of your smile, are in good hands. 

Deep bleaching 

Some types of tooth discoloration are known to be stubborn. These include gray or blue-tinged intrinsic (internal) stains caused by tetracycline’s early or excessive use. Other dentists may recommend invasive restorative procedures to merely “cover up” these stubborn stains, such as porcelain veneers or crowns. But at Orange and Magnolia Dental Studio, we know that even intrinsic stains are not resistant to professional teeth whitening, thanks to the KöR® system. This form of deep bleaching also involves the use of specialized whitening trays; however, the KöR® gel is formulated to lift deep or very dark stains, and the system does so comfortably with the help of built-in desensitizers.

We are privileged to offer so many options to restore your confident, vibrant-looking smile. To find out more about these products and treatments, schedule an appointment at our studio – at the corner of Orange Avenue and Magnolia Street – by calling (949) 642-0608.

Teeth Whitening

Teeth whitening

At a young age our teeth are healthy white. But overtime the enamel coating the tooth is so slowly worn down. Causing our teeth to become stained and yellow, which is why teeth whitening is become increasingly popular today. There are a few methods for whitening. They include at home and in office. With in office treatments, you will see faster results, receive the safest treatment for bleaching the teeth, and yield the whitest smile. So, don’t settle for teeth that have become stained from years of coffee drinking, tobacco use, or just aging. Ask your dentist about whitening options that may be right you.


5 Types of Teeth Stains and How to Remove Them

5 Types of Teeth Stains and How to Remove Them | At Home & In Office Teeth Whitening

Hi, everyone. Welcome back to my channel. My name is Doctor Kahng. I am a cosmetic dentist in the Orange County area and today I wanted to talk about five of the most common discolorations that you can see on a tooth. Now since there are five different types of discolorations and you may not be interested in all of these five different types, I have created chapters for you to easily navigate this video. In this video, I’ll be covering five of the most common reasons of discoloration in your tooth that I commonly see as a dentist, and suggestions on what you can do either at home, or what you can ask your dentist to do about the tooth. Before we move forward don’t forget to hit the subscribe button. So, you don’t miss any of my future videos on cosmetic dental procedures. The first most common reason for discolored teeth are, actually stains that accumulate on the outside of your teeth. I call these extrinsic stains. These stains may occur from having habits such as drinking coffee every single morning, wine every single night or smoking cigars or cigarettes. These are all things that can leave stains on the outermost surface of your tooth and so if it looks like most of the teeth in the arch are discolored it may be an issue with extrinsic staining. Now, what can you do about extrinsic stains or stains that accumulate on the outer surface of your tooth? Well, the first thing you can do is quit the habit. Stop drinking coffee or stop drinking as much coffee in the morning. I find that this is an unrealistic expectation for a lot of people and so what you can do on the other hand is just keep your teeth as clean as possible. What this would entail is going to the dentist at least every six months, so that we can polish off those stains before they get absorbed into your teeth. Personally, that’s what I would recommend because alternatively you could use a whitening type of toothpaste. I generally don’t love whitening styles of toothpaste. I find that they are quite abrasive and can do more damage than good. And so, I think the easiest thing a patient can do is to get regular cleanings and get those stains removed professionally and safely. Now let’s say you don’t have any of those habits and you keep your teeth relatively clean. Well, you may have some intrinsic discoloration in which you would need to whiten the teeth. Intrinsic stains are stains that are within the tooth as opposed to on the outer surface of the tooth. The way that those two relate is that extrinsic stains that are not removed regularly can seep into the tooth and cause them to become intrinsic stains or stains that are layered within. The intrinsic stain cannot just be abraded away or cleaned off or polished. It needs to be addressed with a hydrogen peroxide type of product, a whitening product. That type of product will go into the tooth and will whiten it from the inside out. I did want to make that distinction between an extrinsic and an intrinsic stain, because I find that most patients don’t realize there is a difference in those two stains, and there is a different way of lifting each type of stain. So, if your tooth shade is naturally on the darker side from inside, it really does need to be whitened rather than just cleaned from the outside. As far as teeth whitening options, there are a few. You can either do it at home or you can do it professionally. At home, a lot of people start with Crest White Strips or something that is over the counter. Over the counter products are around Whereas things that you can get in the office are much higher concentration and can be more effective in a shorter amount of time. Personally, one of my favourite ways to whiten is to use custom whitening trays. I think that they are a great investment because you can use them throughout your lifetime to whiten your teeth and to maintain the color. Even after whitening the color will actually go back to the original color, especially if your habits remain the same. And so, it’s important to have a tool to maintain throughout your lifetime. Now for my patients who have never whitened their teeth, and they’re around 50 to 60 years old, sometimes these Crest White Strips or over the counter options just aren’t strong enough to penetrate deeply into the tooth. Remember, that you have years and years and years of staining that have accumulated within the tooth and those are much more stubborn than the teeth of a teenager. And so, what you can do is come into the office and we can do an in-office whitening treatment for you. Just keep in mind that in-office whitening is the fastest that you can possibly whiten within that timeframe. We are using the highest concentration of hydrogen peroxide. Just keep in mind that you may need multiple sessions of professional teeth whitening to get to your desired color. I always like to equate it to getting your hair bleached. If you have dark hair like mine, it often takes multiple sessions to go to blonde. Whereas if you’re already a brunette you can probably get to blonde a lot more quickly than someone like me. Same thing goes with your teeth. If you have very, very dark stubborn stains, it’ll take multiple sessions for you to get to your desired color. Now let’s go on to discoloration type number three, where only one tooth is discolored in the entire arch. What could possibly be going on with that tooth? Well, the first most common reason a tooth may go dark is that it has a root canal in it. And a root canal tooth can turn dark over time, because it has lost its blood supply. It’s kind of like when a leaf falls off a tree and eventually the leaf will change color, because it’s no longer connected to the tree and has lost its supply. The second most common reason a tooth would be discolored is if the nerve supply has become calcified or what we call obliterated. And the reason it turns dark is very similar to a root canal in that it’s lost its blood supply. There can be quite a few reasons a nerve will calcify in a tooth and sometimes it’s hard to backtrace and figure it out. But most of the time it’s due to some sort of trauma or a traumatic event. Maybe you hit that tooth when you were a child. Initially the tooth may look fine, but over the years you’ll see that the tooth has lost its vitality. Now, when a tooth goes dark due to a previous root canal, there are a few options that you can look into. Most of the time you would need to go to a dentist to get these done. The first is to do an internal bleaching procedure, which means the dentist will open up the tooth again in the same way that a root canal was done, and put a little bit of bleaching agent in that little hole in the back of your tooth. They will let that bleaching agent sit in the tooth for a few days. And then when you come back, they’ll take the bleaching agent out. This is a really easy, effective, and inexpensive way of turning color back from inside out. Another option you can discuss with your cosmetic dentist is to cover that tooth up from the outside, with either a veneer, a crown or some sort of bonding. Now, when it comes to a calcified tooth, your options are a little more limited. Only because it hasn’t had a root canal yet. And so, an internal bleaching procedure is not possible. Sometimes I’ll refer this type of procedure over to an endodontist, which is a root canal specialist, so they can see whether it is possible for them to perform a root canal. But a lot of the times patients opt to keep things a little more conservative. When it comes to a calcified tooth, I will try to correct it with these two methods. The first is to try and whiten as my much as possible. It could be an in-office procedure or a custom whitening tray is also great and inside the custom tray you can put the gel only on the one tooth and hopefully that’ll get that tooth to whiten or brighten up so that it blends in with the rest. Most of the time, if it’s a bottom tooth, that is enough, but if it’s an upper tooth and it’s front and centre in your smile, a lot of time it is not enough to get it to blend in with the rest of the teeth. In those cases, we can opt to cover up the tooth instead, with either a veneer, a crown, or some sort of bonding. So those are the top two reasons a single tooth may be discolored in your smile. Now, one additional reason, maybe you’ve had some bonding on that tooth done in the past and that bonding is changing color and staining. May be as simple as replacing that bonding. So ultimately it is really important to go to your cosmetic dentist and have the tooth evaluated to see the reason for the discoloration. The fourth type of discoloration is from tetracycline staining, which is a permanent type of discoloration on the tooth where the teeth turn brown, Gray or yellow. This type of staining occurs when antibiotics are ingested during a developmental period of your teeth. And they’re very, very difficult to remove. The first and most conservative way to reverse these stains is to do KOR whitening. KOR whitening is the strongest and most effective whitening system that I’ve ever used. And I think most dentists would agree that it is the best whitening system out there. It is an entire system that includes using whitening trays at home for around two weeks and then coming in for an office procedure. I think this is your best bet when it comes to reversing those stains conservatively, but there are no guarantees that your teeth will respond well. And this type of whitening is oftentimes three times more expensive than a traditional whitening session. If you’ve already tried whitening with KOR and you didn’t get the results that you wanted, your next step is to cover up the surface of the teeth with either veneers, crowns or fillings. Most of the time you’ll have to remove some of the discoloration by drilling out the little discolored parts and filling them in. It’s not the most conservative option, but it can provide great results and really, really enhanced the smile. The fifth most common discoloration that I see commonly are actually white spots. White spots show up for a number of reasons on teeth. The number one reason being after braces, where a patient did not keep up the best oral hygiene. A tell-tale sign that there has been demineralization of the enamel, which is the white spot, from braces is when there is a little square on the centre of the tooth from where the bracket used to be. What’s happening in that instance is that plaque was accumulating around that bracket, and demineralizing the enamel around it. Demineralization is a precursor to a full-blown cavity, and it’s where the enamel starts to soften because the minerals have come out of the enamel surface, Making it a little weaker and more susceptible to a full-blown cavity. In my experience, I’ve had a lot of success reversing these white spots with a treatment from DMG called Icon. It is a conservative treatment and it only takes about an hour, where the patient comes in and we go through a series of chemical processes where we infiltrate the tooth and build it back up so that it is more resistant to becoming a full-blown cavity but also optically blends in with the rest of the tooth. It’s really quite cool. Other reasons your tooth may have a white spot include fluorosis and hypoplasia. These types of things will have to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Sometimes when I see white spots that are very, very deep, Icon is not enough to reverse that white spot. What I have had success with, however, with these very, very deep white spots, is using Icon as a part of my protocol and finishing up with a bonding sort of treatment in order to cover up that white spot and help it to blend in with the rest of the tooth. Now, if this white spot is really deep and really stubborn, Icon may not be the option that is going to work best for you. In this type of situation or if the white spots are on multiple teeth, it may be a good idea to get a consultation for something that can cover up the surface of the tooth, such as a veneer or a crown, maybe a composite veneer as well. All right, those are the five most common types of discolorations that I see as a cosmetic dentist in my practice. If you are still watching this video, please hit the subscribe button and also comment down below, which section you thought was the most helpful, or which section you are dealing with right now. As always, I appreciate you guys for watching these videos and I will see you next time. Bye.


Dr. Joyce Kahng

Joyce Kahng, DDS, is a distinguished cosmetic dentist with over a decade of experience, recognized as one of Orange Coast Magazine’s Top Dentists for 2022 - 2024. A graduate of the University of the Pacific Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry and a former Clinical Assistant Professor at USC, Dr. Kahng integrates cutting-edge technology with a patient-centered approach at Orange + Magnolia Dental Studio. Her commitment to excellence is evident through continuous education and significant contributions to dental outreach. Awarded USC’s Outstanding Faculty in 2018, Dr. Kahng combines expert care with a genuine dedication to her patients’ well-being.  She is an expert in minimally invasive cosmetic procedures such as no prep veneers and minimal prep veneers.