Which Teeth Whitening Trays are Best?
Teeth whitening trays are part of a system that’s designed to bleach and whiten your teeth. The trays by themselves don’t do anything. But they’re designed to hold a special teeth whitening gel that will lighten the shade of your teeth.
You can get teeth whitening trays and gel for home use, or you can have the procedure done at your dentist’s office. While some systems might use a standard tray, the best systems let you mold the tray to your teeth so that the gel is held firmly in place against every surface of the tooth. A tray that doesn’t fit your teeth specifically can leave gaps in treatment where the teeth won’t be whitened the same as the rest of your tooth surfaces.
Custom Teeth Whitening Trays
Trays designed to fit your teeth will give you the best whitening results, so if you plan on getting teeth whitening you should opt for a custom tray from your dentist. If you want to spend less but still get the good result a custom tray can give you, you’ll need a system with a customizable tray. “Boil and bite” trays are a popular option. The cheapest system is the standard one-size-fits all tray that comes in the least expensive whitening systems.
The “boil and bite” trays come with plain trays that you boil. This softens the plastic material. While the material is warm and pliable you bite down on the trays to make an impression. This gives you custom teeth whitening trays at a fraction of the cost of dentist produced trays. The biggest problem with these trays is that sometimes the standard form that you use might be too small or too big for your mouth.
Dentist-made custom teeth whitening trays are much more expensive and much less forgiving. If you mess up an impression with a “boil and bite” tray, you simply reheat it and do it again. But since the dentist’s custom trays have to be sent to a lab and created, there’s no chance to do it over. If you’ve ever had impressions made for other dental work, you’re familiar with the general procedure in making the casts for these trays.
You do have a better chance of complete coverage, even over the back molars, with a tray like this. But most people aren’t that concerned with white back molars, so you may be better off with “boil and bite” trays.
Teeth whitening trays are an important part of any whitening system. They do need to be fitted to your mouth at least well enough to cover your teeth and hold the gel in place. Fitted trays also have the advantage of getting less of the whitening gel onto your gums. Many of the gels are very irritating to gum tissue and can cause a burning sensation. While standard sized trays are cheaper, you may want to invest at least a little more into customizable teeth whitening trays to get the best results with less discomfort.
