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What's the best teeth bleaching system?
There are several possible variations in
the answer to the question of which teeth whitening system gives the best
results. It depends on your style, whether you're a do-it-yourselfer or
whether you want to visit the dental office and have the work done for you.
The best tooth whitening will be done by
the whitening agent that best penetrates the teeth and whitens the teeth
through and through. And penetration will happen when the whitening agent is
on the tooth the longest.
Beyond that, you want a system with a
powerful whitening agent.
The professional tray systems, where the
dental office makes you a custom tray that you wear at home, will whiten the
most thoroughly. The whitening gels can be made as powerful as your mouth
can stand--the limit is set by the amount of irritation that you feel.
However, this type of system doesn't
appeal to everyone. Some people prefer to go to an appointment, have the
dental office do all the work, and come home with whiter teeth. If these
people are given trays to wear at home, they won't wear them. In this case,
the patient is best off with the laser bleaching system or the power
whitening treatments, such as Zoom and Brite Smile.
What do studies show about professional
teeth bleaching products?
There are many tooth whitening studies
comparing various products and methods of teeth whitening. It's not all good
research. Much of it is funded by the manufacturers of teeth whitening
systems. Some of it is flawed research.
Here's a list of some of the
professional teeth bleaching systems that are available:
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Opalescence Xtra Boost® |
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Rembrandt® |
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Zoom!® |
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Niveous™ |
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BriteSmile® |
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LumaArch ™ |
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LaserSmile™ |
It can be confusing for the patient. You
want your teeth the whitest. Which system is best?
I was one of the pioneers in
tooth whitening research and developed the split arch technique of
evaluating whitening treatments which has become recognized as the most reliable testing method.
In the same patient, the top arch is divided in the middle, and one side of
the mouth is whitened with one system, the other side with another. This is
the only sure-fire way to evaluate a tooth whitening system. You have to
test the whitening product under real conditions. You can't use extracted
teeth that aren't subject to real in-the-mouth conditions in real, live
people. And you can't reliably compare the results with one patient against the
results of another.
If a patient is bleached with a
take-home tray system, used on a daily basis over a period of weeks, the
long-term whitening results will be superior to those of the patient who has
a one-time exposure to a powerful bleaching agent and a light. It's a clear
contest. The bleaching light will produce a stronger immediate result, but
the immediate brilliant whiteness achieved with the light (which comes
mostly from the drying out effect of the heat and the light) will fade
quickly unless the treatment is supplemented with a take-home tray.
There are some systems which are more
effective than others. There are products that work better than others.
However, I would advise you not to try to direct your cosmetic dentist as to
which system to use. I also strongly caution you against choosing your
cosmetic dentist based on which system they use, because you've done your
research and you know which system is best. Your research may be based on
old information, on flawed studies, or on factors that you're not aware of.
Choose a dentist who is an expert
cosmetic dentist, who has a passion for beautiful teeth, and who does a lot
of teeth whitening. Such a dentist will be familiar with several systems and
will likely be up on the very latest research, and will have the training
necessary to evaluate the research and know which experts to trust. An
expert cosmetic dentist will also be using the correct technique, which can
have a strong impact on your results.
One popular cosmetic dentistry
information web site gives similar advice, but they suggest that one factor
in choosing a good cosmetic dentist is to choose one that has more than one
whitening method available. I disagree with that. The number of methods used
doesn't tell you anything about the expertise of the dentist. But look for a
passion on the part of the dental office for appearance-related dentistry,
for a dental office that does a lot of whitening and a lot of other cosmetic
dentistry procedures, and that proudly displays photographs of their work.
Other teeth bleaching topics:
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