Since white teeth can make a person smile more often and feel more confident about his or her appearance, there are a variety of teeth whitening products available. These items are popular because there’s almost no one who wouldn’t like to have a brighter, whiter smile. If you’re looking to have your teeth whitened, you have several options based on both your budget for the product and the amount of time you want to spend getting your teeth white.
Professional Teeth Whitening Products
The products that you purchase or use at your dentist’s office are the most expensive, but also the most effective. The whitening gel that your dentist will apply over one or more visits in mouth trays fitted to your teeth are a popular option. It can take one or two sessions before you see a big difference, and you may also be sent home with a kit that you can continue with if your teeth have stubborn stains.
There’s also a teeth bleaching gel that your dentist may use in combination with a laser. This is the fastest and longest lasting teeth whitening method, but also the most expensive, running at least $1,000 per treatment, which you might have to repeat every 18 months or so.
Over-the-Counter Teeth Whitening Products
You can purchase teeth whitening systems that are similar to those the dentist would give you for home use. These systems contain the mouth trays, with many of the more expensive kits containing mouth trays that can be molded to fit your teeth. And they contain a gel that you put in the trays and apply to the teeth. The gel will either contain hydrogen peroxide, in kits where you leave it on for 30 minutes or so, or carbamide peroxide, in kits where you leave it on for several hours or overnight. These teeth whitening products work more slowly than the treatment at the dentist’s office, but they’re less expensive, usually by at least a few hundred dollars.
You can also purchase very inexpensive toothpaste that’s designed for whitening your teeth. The biggest difference between the toothpaste and the gel kits is the lack of an actual bleaching agent. They contain an abrasive element that polishes the teeth to remove light surface staining. You won’t get a real whitening result with the toothpaste, but it can lighten your teeth by about a shade.
In-office gel treatments can lighten 3 to 6 shades, and laser treatments can lighten up to 10 shades. But the toothpaste costs a few bucks for a little brightening, so if you’re not looking to drastically change your teeth this might be a good option. Whitening rinses are mouthwashes that contain hydrogen peroxide, and can take up to 3 months before you can see a difference.
Other teeth whitening products include brush on gels and whitening strips. The inexpensive gels cost less than $20 and are applied to the surface of the teeth with a brush. The strips stick to your teeth and give you the same results as the brush on gel – a slightly lighter shade that lasts about 4 months.