I just noticed walking down the street from my office that the lady who does facials and waxes legs is also offering you teeth whitening.  Every time I open my computer and scroll on Google, I get a pop-up ad telling me how I can make a lot of money selling teeth whitening. My colleague walks through an airport in the U.S, and sees kiosks offering whitening while you await your airplane. Since when did placing a very powerful hydrogen peroxide mixture on someone’s teeth become something a kiosk lady can do.

Teeth Whitening Vancouver Dentist

Did you know that in B.C, our College of Dental Surgeons were so strict in the rules governing teeth whitening application that it wasn’t more than a few years ago that they even allowed licensed hygienists and CDA’s to apply it on a patient.  So let me get this straight, the governing body of dentists is so worried about patient health that they only want licensed dentists placing gel on patients teeth at risk of  license suspension but your neighbor down the street can have a whitening party and charge you $99 so you can whiten your teeth. What gives?? The truth is like all things that sound too good to be true , it is.  I ask myself why would a person let a stranger place a gel on their teeth that potentially could damage their teeth and gums perhaps permanently.  Is it because they think,  “ Hey ,$99.00, this is way cheaper than the dentist charges”.  Well let me tell you what you will get for your $99.

Firstly, the gel will be made in China with an  undisclosed percentage of hydrogen peroxide.  If you are lucky it will be approximately 5% and therefore will likely not harm your teeth or gums unless you have exposed  due to gum shrinkage (recession)  dentin or roots.  They put on the gel filled tray and  you wear for it for 15 minutes in front of a little red light (that  light does nothing by the way). Well you have just paid $100 for something you can buy at the drugstore for a third of the price.  Now, if you are unlucky the gel is a higher percentage of hydrogen peroxide and the person selling it doesn’t really know anything about the gel  or where it is manufactured and what kind of manufacturing safeguards they have or don’t have.  In other words, they don’t have a clue what they are putting on your teeth.

Let’s say its 20%-30%  hydrogen peroxide.  Did you know that if that is applied to exposed dentin or root cementum it could cause a temporary or permanent pulpitis.  That could eventually lead to a person needing root canal therapy or it could cause a possible root resorption  that in the worst case could lead to the need to remove the tooth.Yet thousands and thousands of people in North America are doing this. Maybe many of these people never go to the dentist anyway but go to the malls where they are tempted by “easy and cheap?  whitening”.   Don’t you think these people are the worst candidates to try this as they probably are most likely not going to the dentist and probably have dental or gingival problems to begin with.

Please think twice before you or someone you know does this kind of thing.  These days teeth whitening at a dental office are being offered at very  competitive fees.    You do not have to pay $500, $600, $700 and more.  My office  for example, WestcoastSmile Dental Studio and Whitening Spa offers  teeth whitening for $399 and it includes a pretreatment and post treatment desensitivity  gel and  spa paraffin hand treatment.  We have experienced licensed professionals doing this procedure and I personally examine each person to make sure they are candidates for this procedure and the procedure will cause no harm . We also  have specials and promotions during occasions like Valentine’s Day, Mothers’ and Fathers’ day, Christmas etc.  You can phone around to dental offices and find the best price.

The truth is the dentists are not making much profit on these procedures due to the higher costs associated with providing legitimate safe product delivered by licensed personnel.   But, those ladies in the malls and spas are making a killing.  They pay little for their Grey market product and have unlicensed personnel applying it and rake in $100 for 15 minutes.

Caveat Emptor/ Buyer Beware

During the intermission, I kept thinking how much tension there was in the building.   Is this what it would  feel like if the Canucks ever were playing game seven for the Stanley Cup. Well, as you all know our hero Sidney Crosby scored and the whole of our nation stood up and cheered.

The Olympics brought our country, province and particularly our city Vancouver together  in a way rarely  experienced in Canada.   I walked home from the rink  most days after my shift and even though I was getting sick with  bronchitis I could still feel they joy our city was having as I walked through the throngs of people having fun.

As the dentist on the medical team of Canada Hockey Place, I was thankful there were no serious facial traumas that I had to deal with. I was thankful for the opportunity to part of this Olympic games.  Like most young Canadian boys, I dreamed of being a hockey player  playing in the NHL and for Canada at the Olympics.   It turned out that I was better at school than I was at hockey and dentistry became my career.  I love dentistry. Yet even at my middle age and being a  professional for almost 30 years, I still couldn’t believe I was working with the best hockey players on the planet at the Olympic Games.  I was really part of an Olympic games, how cool is that.  When Sidney Crosby scored that goal, I jumped high in the air and screamed and remembered  doing the same thing in 1972 as a sixteen year old boy when Paul Henderson scored what would be up until Feb 28 2010  the greatest goal Canada to win the cold war match with the  U.S.S.R .

The Players:

Zdeno Chara  d-man for Slovakia is unbelievably tall ( 6’7’’) , so is Chris Pronger;  slick centre Nik Backstrom for Sweden is short and looks shorter in his shorts.

Phil Kessel for Team USA and the Maple Leafs remind me of our Kyle Wellwood, sort of like the guy you went to high school with and work for Home Depot now; but what a player he is.

US team and Chicago Blackhawk Patrick Kane looks like a choir boy but skates as fast and as jittery as the bee in classic Rimsky-Koursikoff “Flight of the Bumble Bee”.

Alexander Ovechkin is much bigger than you think and he has the look of an assassin prior to game time.

Everybody knew a Sidney Crosby in their life.   You know the best high school athlete, good guy, good looking; every guy wants to be him, every girl wants to date him.

Best Hockey Story Line:

There is a player for Norway; his name is Tore Vikingstad, now if that is not a name for a Norwegian I don’t know what is.  Well, he appears to be older player now and he has a wife and 3 children holding  a huge banner saying “Go Dad Go” and a picture of him.  Last Saturday night in a game against the Swiss, Tore got a hat trick.  Well, his little children were thrilled to death and the Canada Hockey Place went nuts for him.

Best Cheerleaders:  Three beautiful blonds from Latvia sitting right behind their bench.  They looked like a mother and her two gorgeous daughters all wrapped in the Latvian flag.  Latvia doesn’t have a great hockey team but they sure have great cheerleaders.

Worst Cheerleader:  The “ crazy guy”  who is seen dancing in a manic way whenever there is a stop in play and seems to have an endless supply of t-shirts to be stripped off and thrown in the crowd like some male version of a vaudeville burlesque dancer: perhaps in need of Ritalin.   Also an honourable mention to National Post writer Bruce Arthur who wrote a particular negative article about Canadian athletes’ accomplishments.

Best Swedish Twins: Henrik and Daniel Sedin always personable and friendly and never seem to show any nerves.  I count them as friends.  Two of the greatest competitiors you will ever meet.

Best Outfits:  Gold medal to the USA courtesy of Ralph Lauren with the exception of the TV test pattern the bobsled ladies wore; they had the sharpest looking duds.  Silver medal to Canada, a close second.  Hudson Bay Co. came up with some real winners for our athletes.   Bronze to Finland you got to love their blue.

Big Thumbs Up to  the very cheery girl sitting on the lifeguard tower with her megaphone as we all entered the west perimeter; always happy and worked hard to get us “up” on even the wettest and coldest of days.   In fact, thumbs up to all the great volunteers in blue.  So many great people often taking time away from their regular jobs and sometimes being stuck doing work   in not always great or glamorous conditions.

Big thumbs down to the food served to us worker volunteers (including your dentist) at Canada Hockey Place.  Sample dinner:  White rice, cubes of chicken and heavily steamed vegetables.  Oh wait, sorry I meant a choice of white rice with cube chicken or white rice with heavily steamed vegetables.  A volunteer told me that she thought the catering was done by a company that caters to the local hospitals.  Note to Jeff:  Do not get sick.

Weirdest Hockey Player Ritual: All world Russian Alex Ovechkin  and his teammate Alex Semin rapping each other in the CUP prior to going on for the pre-game skate.  Well, if that doesn’t get you pumped up nothing will?

Best Hockey Player Ritual: Team Sweden playing soccer in the halls with the ball never touching the floor.  Note to Canuck Hopeful Michael Grabner don’t try this warm-up again, it cost you a broken ankle and a place in the line up.

Best Distraction:  Team Sweden woman’s hockey team player showing up in the med room with her lovely therapist for a rub down prior to their game.

Friendliest: man in the building is one of the greatest goalies to ever have played anywhere and that is Vladislav Tretiak of the old USSR.  Anyone over the age of 40 will remember how great he was against us time and time again.  He played for Russia (the old USSR) for 4 Olympic teams and he has been involved as a coach in two others; one of the great Olympians of all time.    He is older now and has a bit of a belly but it was still awesome to meet him and get him to sign my volunteer jacket.

Final Comments:   Probably the biggest thing I have noticed is that almost all the teams here are pretty open and friendly.  They seem loose and have played that way with the exception of the Canadian team.  There seems to be lots of tension around the building whenever they are in it.  I understand they want to keep the many distractions of playing here in Vancouver away from the players but maybe they need to loosen things up to help this team get back to winning.

Update:  Maybe they listened because they looked loose and hungry last night as they trounced Russia in the most electric game I ever saw.

Dr. Norden is Vancouver 2010 Olympic  dentist on medical team at men’s hockey at Canada  Hockey Place!! After all his hardwork and dedication to support the Olympic games, the time is almost here!! Stay tuned as he blogs over the next couple weeks from each game and around the city!

You may find as you walk into local Spa’s here in Vancouver, as well as malls, an offer for a great deal on teeth whitening! Buyer beware… the people offering these services have had no training, no license, have taken no course, no test or exam or been trained in proper infection control procedures. The use of certain peroxides on teeth requires some education! Not only can it be harmful to your tissues, you may have dental issues that may affect whether or not you are good candidate for the procedure. Only a trained dental professional can screen you for this and offer whitening treatments in a safe and effective manner!!!

The staff at WestcoastSmile had the unique apportunity to see the rerhearsal of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Ceremnoy last nite! Canadians are in for a real treat!!!

Stay tuned over the weeks ahead as Dr. Norden updates us on his adventures as the 2010 Olympic Dentist for Men’s Hockey!!!! Go Canada Go!!