What teeth whitener works for you?

Unfortunately, no one whitening treatment is for everyone. It really depends on your expectations.

Treatments like BriteSmile, a dentist teeth whitening procedure, will lighten your teeth up to 9.3 shades in a hour.  Great unless you already have relatively white teeth- then you might glow in the dark! LumaArch teeth whitening may lighten your teeth between 2-4 shades in about a 30 minutes. Also really great, you will quickly see immediate results, but maybe 2-4 shades is not the look you desired. As far as if a laser or a light is used during the process, not sure that one is necessarily better than the other. The treatments that do use a light source seem to lighten more shades, in less time.

I got Bright Smile- really loved my results.  The only sad part was that with the coffee in the am and red wine in the evening diet that I am on- they faded pretty quickly.  Trays with the procedure to do touch ups would be ideal.  I would do a professional teeth whitening procedure that has trays that are custom made for your teeth so that you can maintain your results.  I believe that most people feel as if every year and half or so you need to repeat the teeth whitening procedure if you really want them to be pearly white.

few difference between teeth whiteners that a cosmetic dentist will use for teeth whitening treatments. They all use high bleach concentrations and some sort of activitation method, like an intense light or laser. You'll pretty much get the same results from britesmile as you'd get from zoom or rembrandt. The important thing in teeth whitening in how skilled is the person applying the bleach to your teeth. Do they prep properly by protecting your gums or clearing away tartar and other grime? Do they carefully monitor you as you sit in the chair, or do you get abandoned for an hour? My sense is that the cosmetic dentists have a leg up on the teeth whitening places like britesmile. they can see oral issues such as gum recision and proactively address this. go to britesmile, they'll slap on the bleach, and get the process going.

I got my teeth whiten professionally and the results were good... my teeth were white but they weren't celebrity white.  And I also had a lot of sensitivity.  The trays that they had given me helped me maintain the color but not as mcuh... I can say that the whiteness faded away aprox 4 months but my teeth are still whiter than before.

i think dentist teeth whitening is a waste of money. your teeth will yellow in less thn 6 mos and you are then back getting it done again for another $400. -Ami

I had mine done at Bright Smile three years ago and it worked great. My teeth are still white and bright (obviously not as much as they were the day I had it done, but still better than before) The key is healthy maintenance. You've got to use a toothpaste with whitening, see your dentist regularly (it's the plaque build up that hold the stains the most), chew Trident White, and be sure to at least rinse if you can't actually brush after drinking wine or coffee.

I've use Crest Whitening strips ever since they came out on the market. The strips won't make your teeth dozens of shades whiter, but they're great for people, such as myself, who enjoy coffee and red wine on occasion. They're also a relatively inexpensive way to touch up professional whitening jobs.

I had trays made by my dentist and used Opalesence 10% bleaching cream initially for a number of days, then switched to 15%, This process gradually whitened my teeth to the stage my teeth will be whitened, which was a great improvment over the dull color I started out with. I discovered that your teeth will only go so white, and not the dazzling "movie star" white we'd like. Now I only use the trays and the 15% several times a yr. for a shorter time to maintain their whiteness. I'm very pleased with what this has done, as it works quite well. I recently had veneers put on my top teeth and am even more pleased.

i hated my zoom whitening at my dentist so i would cross that off your list of options. the rembrandt toothpaste felt good and cost plenty. however it didn't make a difference that i can detect now. my friend is trying out crest strips. another is doing go smile. waiting for someone to hit a eureka moment

I'm a dental hygienist and at my office we first recommend the over the counter strips like Crest White Strips ($25). Sometimes that is all patients need and it is also a good way to find out if your teeth are sensitive to the whitening agent. If you had no sensivity and still want something more we offer the Crest White Strips that you can get only through a DDS ($80). If you want the gold standard and don't mind paying the price of $250 an arch, we make custom trays that you wear at home. The bleach is a 15% peroxide. The cost is in the custom made trays and refills on the bleach are only $25. Bleach will not change the color of crowns or composite fillings so this is always a consideration when doing bleaching. Also if you have recession (where you have root exposure), you can become very sensitive as these areas are not covered with enamel. This is why I recommend using the cheaper, less strong strips first. Also, one of the best toothpastes out there for keeping your teeth white, reduce plaque build up and feel extra clean is Arm & Hammer's Proxicare which has both peroxide and baking soda. Remember brush twice a day, floss once a day and see your dental professional every six months.

I had the bleaching done at the dentist and it was evolve. I want to continue bleaching with my trays. What can I order that is higher than 15% and only the refillable syringes. Thank you Deborah Belton

Teeth whiteners are all basically the same materials. They are either hydrogen peroxide or carbamide peroxide. Over the counter products are just lower in percentage than products from a dental office. If you want to experiment with a lower cost OTC product, don't be surprised if you don't get a great result because it often is a slower and more gradual process. If you want more immediate gratification and don't mind the additional cost, then do in-office whitening and follow it up with take home whitening in a custom tray.

I liked the Crest White Strips until they changed to a thicker material. Now I'm concerned they won't get the areas in between my teeth bleached evenly.

I've tried Rembrandt whitening gel in my custom trays & didn't notice a difference.

Still on the hunt for a good OTC product.

There was a survey conducted that found many favor professional teeth whitening to over the counter products. Of course the survey was conducted on behalf of Phillips, the makers of Zoom so one can't help but to question its bias. Click here if you would like to read an article on the survey.