Tooth Whitening

There are two basic ways to whiten teeth:

1. Home bleaching using a custom fitted tray.
2. In-surgery bleaching with or without a light/laser

Studies show that the outcome in terms of whiteness is the same from both bleaching methods. However, for In-surgery bleaching, a very high concentration of bleaching agent is used (up to 10 times greater than home bleaching). It is our opinion that, as we don’t know the long-term effects of using this high concentration, its use might be storing up problems for the future.

Therefore, in our practice, we have decided to use only the Home bleaching method.

Treatment Procedure

Examination of your teeth and gum tissue is essential to ensure you are clinically suitable for tooth whitening. If so, then impressions (moulds) are taken of your teeth. About a week later we supply you with a custom-fitted soft bleaching tray, and peroxide-containing whitening agents.

We recommend that patients start by whitening their upper arch first. This allows you to see the colour change taking place against your lower teeth. You decide how white you want to go.

You wear your upper tray in bed at night or alternately for 3 hours daily. When you are happy with the shade of the upper teeth you stop whitening the upper teeth. You can then start the lower arch to match the upper. We generally like to see the patient, if convenient before they start the lower to check the shade difference.

Treatment time per arch is generally about 2-3 weeks but can vary from patient to patient.

Once you have completed the whitening procedure you should retain your trays so that you can maintain your whitening by wearing the trays for one or two nights e very four to six months if you notice staining.

Possible Side Effects

• The most common side effect noted is that some teeth may be more sensitive to temperature changes during treatment. However, sensitive teeth return to normal when treatment is terminated, and no long-term effects noted from this sensitivity.
• For some patients the peroxide solution may initially cause some tissue irritation on an isolated portion of the gums. Chemical irritations may resolve in 1-4 days without cessation of treatment.

The cost of this treatment is €300