Which
is best, professional teeth whitening treatments performed
by your dentist or using an at-home product?
No
doubt the number one question people reading our pages have
is: Which is best, having professional teeth whitening treatments
performed by your dentist or using an at-home whitener? While
the information found on our pages will help you arrive at
an answer to this questions we'd first like to say that using
the word "best" really is not an appropriate way to phrase
this question. Here's why ...
Peroxide-based teeth whitening is generally considered by
dentists to be a function of two factors:
- The
concentration of the peroxide teeth whitener.
- The
time of exposure of this whitener with the surface of
the person's teeth.
It's
as simple as that. For teeth to whiten they need to be exposed
to an appropriate teeth whitener (in an appropriate manner)
for an appropriate amount of time.
This information
(which possibly comes as a surprise) implies that to get
the same degree of teeth lightening a whitening system can
either use a low concentration whitener for an extended
period of time (the method utilized by at-home teeth whitening
products) or else a higher concentration whitener for a
comparatively shorter period of time (the method employed
by professional teeth whitening treatments performed by
dentists).
And while our pages have more to say about each of these
approaches, the crux of the matter is that both at-home
(especially tray-based) and professional systems can result
in the same whitening outcome. Neither method is necessarily
"best".
Which is best,
using an at-home teeth whitening product or having professional
treatments performed by your dentist?
Let's ask our original
question again: Which is best, having at-home or professional
teeth whitening treatments? As you can see we have still used
the word "best" in our sentence even though we already know
that both whitening approaches can typically be used to produce
similar results. This time however let's look at answering
this question in terms of not what method gives the best results
but instead which method best fits into your lifestyle.
Of course before you can make a determination you will need
to know a little bit about what each method entails ...
What
is professional teeth bleaching as performed by a dentist
as opposed to at-home teeth whitening whose treatments are
performed by you at home?
Professional
in-office teeth whitening (sometimes referred to as "power
bleaching") is a methodology where the application of the
whitener is applied by your dentist in their dental office.
In contrast, with at-home teeth whitening the dental patient
has the bleaching materials with them at home and performs
their bleaching treatments on their own, unsupervised.
At-home teeth bleaching typically involves performing whitening
treatments each day over a series of weeks. In-office bleaching
treatments are typically much fewer in number, possibly as
few as one.
The teeth whitening
system that is best for you can depend on factors such as:
available time, your temperament, and how much money you
have to spend.
Here are some characteristics
of these two teeth whitening systems ...
Advantages and
disadvantages of at-home teeth whitening:
- The dental patient
must be capable of complying with the system's technique
and instructions (which are typically very simple).
- The person must
have the time and inclination to perform the whitening
treatments.
- Is less expensive
than professional teeth whitening treatments.
- Can take some
weeks or even months before final results are seen.
Advantages
and disadvantages of professional teeth whitening:
- The
whitening effect is seen immediately.
- The
whitening is accomplished in just a few appointments (possibly
even just one).
- It
is more expensive than using at-home teeth whitening products.
So what's the
best teeth whitening system for you?
Which method seems
best for your lifestyle? Are you long on time and short on
money. If so it sounds like at-home teeth whitening might
be best choice.
Do you have a big event coming up soon that you want to transform
your smile for or maybe you just don't think you can incorporate
do-it-yourself whitening treatments into your busy lifestyle?
If so it seems professional treatments performed in your dentist's
office might be the best solution.
Cosmetic
dentistry makeovers.
In Animated-Teeth.com's cosmetic
dentistry section we take pictures people have sent in and
illustrate for them what kind of results a cosmetic dentistry
makeover might produce.
Use the links below to see some of our dental makeovers
that incorporate teeth whitening into the treatment plan.
Smile makeover #1
Smile makeover #2
Smile makeover #3
Smile makeover #4
More
information about at-home and professional teeth whitening
from Animated-Teeth.com.
Professional
teeth whitening.
- Page
1
- Which is best,
in-office or at-home teeth whitening?
- What are the
advantages and disadvantages of professional teeth
whitening?
- Page
2 and 3
- What steps
are involved with professional teeth whitening?
- Page
4
- What type
of teeth whitener is utilized?
- Should a laser
or a light be used during the treatment?
- Page
5
- How much does
professional whitening cost?
- What level
of whitening results can be expected?
- Page
6
- What side
effects are associated with professional teeth whitening?
At-home
teeth whitening.
