How long does it take before color change is perceptible?

With the in-office technique, you will see a color change in as little as one hour. Home bleaching will usually yield results after about a week. Most commonly, people achieve the level of whitening they want to see after the second week. Tough cases may take an additional (third) week or may require what we term a "Power Bleaching " technique. This is a combination of both home and in-office bleaching, but will usually get even hard to lighten teeth considerably whiter -- probably as white as they can be safely bleached.

Why would I need my teeth whitened?

If your teeth are dark and you are unhappy with the shade, or you simply feel they could look lighter, tooth whitening may be an option for you.

Is it recommended that anyone not undergo teeth whitening?

Yes. If your teeth are already sensitive, or if you have a good deal of gum recession, teeth whitening may make the teeth even more sensitive. Likewise, people that already have a number of fillings or crowns in place are not likely to receive the maximum benefit from whitening because these areas will not lighten with treatment. If a patient has just a few such fillings or crowns, they sometimes opt to go ahead with whitening anyway and later replace their crown or fillings after whitening is completed, but this will obviously increase the overall cost of treatment. Also, I do not generally bleach teeth for children. A child should be at least fifteen years old before we consider a whitening procedure.

What does tooth whitening involve?

First we make impressions of the teeth to be whitened. Models of your teeth are made from these impressions. We use the models to custom fabricate a device that you will wear to administer the whitening agent. A well-fitting tray is possibly one of the most critical aspects of the procedure and, frankly, is one reason why professionally made bleaching trays work so much better than most over-the-counter whitening products. There are two main variants of the bleaching procedure. One of them involves in-office bleaching and the second is one in which you take the bleaching trays home. The home bleaching method is less expensive. You can learn more about bleaching by visiting my website and scrolling down to the bottom of the articles section (www.ToothWiz.com/articles).