What Is the Best Way to Whiten My Teeth?

Q: Dr. B,
What’s the best way to whiten your teeth? In-office whitening seems to be the most expensive, but does that mean it’s the best?
- Brenda from Tempe, AZ

A: The best way to whiten your teeth is to do it slowly. Let me explain.

During in-office whitening, the teeth are exposed to a stronger strength gel (30% to 35% solution of carabamide peroxide), but for a very short period (about an hour). When using custom whitening trays, the teeth are exposed to a less concentrated whitening gel (10 to 20%), but for a much longer period of time (about 1 hour each day for two to eight weeks).

Why is slow and steady a better method?

It’s just like baking cookies. Baking chocolate chip cookies (this is just an analogy, don’t get any ideas!) requires putting them in at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. You can’t blast the cookies at 1000 degrees for one minute and expect the same results.

For the same reason, the best way to whiten your teeth is at a “lower temp” (or lower concentration of whitening gel) over a longer period of time.

This will result in a deeper penetration of the tooth and a more permanent color change.

When whitening in office with 30% gels, the tooth is significantly dehydrated and after 7 to 10 days there is a rebound effect (tendency to return to the original color). This is less likely to happen with a tray based system as the tooth is not as dehydrated.

In-office whitening certainly has its place, especially when you need to whiten your teeth in a hurry, but if you have the time, custom whitening trays from your dentist are the way to go because they will be effective in the long run. When whitening your teeth, it’s about frequency, not strength.

Custom whitening trays are the most cost-effective

Once in the system, always in the system. With custom whitening trays, you are buying into a system to whiten your teeth for life. While it is true that the whitening effect is permanent, your teeth will continue to yellow simply because that?s what happens as we age. To maintain the effect, you will have to spend a few hours every five years whitening with your custom trays.

The cost of this is only the cost of a few syringes of gel ($25 each) as opposed to going back to your dentist for another round of in-office whitening at the usual cost ($300 to $900). Custom trays will cost you $300 to $400 and will allow you to continue whitening your teeth at home without ever having to step into the office.

Custom whitening trays are the safest method of whitening your teeth

Custom trays allow you to hold the gel intimately against the teeth and away from the gums. If properly done, the gums will not make contact with the whitening gel as they do with whitening strips. Free radical reactions can occur when the whitening gel comes into contact with the gums. Free radicals are what age living tissue.

Mark Burhenne DDS