How to whiten your teeth!

There are two ways that I generally recommend to patients if they want their teeth to be whiter by bleaching them:

  1.  By making a custom bleaching tray made of a thin material that will hold a bleaching material jell against the teeth.
  2.  By using the Crest Whitening Strips you can purchase at our office.
They both work very well at whitening your teeth, and there are pluses and minuses for both.  So you should decide what works best for you.
The Crest Professional Strength Whitening Strips are usually worn twice a day for 30 minutes for 3 weeks.  They have these positives:
  1.   The bleaching jell on the strip is stronger then what you can buy at a store.
  2.   It has been shown in studies to do as well as the trays if placed correctly on   the teeth.
  3.   It is considerably cheaper at $65 for a box of 84 strips (42 upper, 42   lower).
The negatives of using the strips are:
  1. It takes 3 weeks of consistently wearing them to finish bleaching your teeth.
  2. You have to be careful to place the strips correctly so the bleaching jell is in contact with the tooth all the way to the gums.
  3. If your teeth are crooked the strips may not adapt into all the irregularities of your teeth.

To make the custom bleaching trays we take impressions of your teeth and have you back a week later to give you the trays and bleaching jell, which comes in small syringes.  I usually recommend wearing the trays about 90 minutes, once a day.  The positives of using the bleaching trays are:

  1. The trays control the jell so it is held against the tooth correctly.
  2. Bleaching is usually finished after wearing the trays 18-20 hours, or about 2 weeks.
The negatives of using the trays are:
  1. It requires 2 office visits.
  2. Is more costly; $240 for both upper and lower trays and bleaching jell.
In both methods, the chief problem that may occur is tooth sensitivity.  What I recommend if this occurs is to simply expose your teeth to less bleaching time per day.
  • If you’re using trays, cut down the wear time to 60 minutes, or maybe only do it every other day.
  • For the whitening strips, cut it down to 20 minutes each wear time, or maybe only once a day.
Recognize that if this is necessary, it may take longer for you to get done with the whitening process.
I’m sure you may have additional questions.  Please give our office a call and I can try to answer them, or bring them with you the next time you are in the office.