From drug stores to dentist chairs
When faced with the wide array of whitening products in the drugstore — from strips to trays to special toothpastes and mouth rinses — the ADA Seal of Acceptance is a helpful tool. The organization has conducted its own testing to make sure label claims are accurate. Most of the products have hydrogen peroxide or carbamide peroxide (hydrogen peroxide is the active ingredient). The products offered in a dentist’s office will have a higher concentration of chemicals.
Not surprisingly, those in-office products also work faster and have longer-lasting results. And in the office, technicians make a special bleaching tray (similar to a mouth guard) that conforms exactly to a patient’s teeth. That means the bleaching solution is less likely to leak into other parts of the mouth.
Dentists often combine bleaching solutions with UV light, regular bright light, or lasers in order to speed up the whitening process. With these in-office procedures, patients can expect their teeth to become eight shades whiter with just one treatment. The teeth stay white for about three months.
Drugstore whitening rinses, by contrast, take approximately 12 weeks to whiten the teeth. The rinses and whitening pastes don’t get the teeth quite as white and don’t last as long. Story continues ...
