KöR Teeth Whitening: What You Need to Know
Pros & cons
How it works
Fast facts
KöR is a professional teeth-whitening system that uses a peroxide-based whitening gel to remove stains and minimize discoloration for whiter teeth and a brighter smile. Depending on your level of staining, you may need daily at-home treatments for two to eight weeks, sometimes followed by a whitening session at your dentist’s office, to achieve your desired results.
Two things set this treatment apart from other whitening systems.
- The KöR whitening gel is refrigerated, which preserves its potency.
- KöR-Seal trays are customized for your teeth and designed to minimize the amount of saliva that comes in contact with the bleaching gel on your teeth. This keeps the formula from being diluted and ensures that its whitening power lasts for 6 to 10 hours.
According to the manufacturer, the KöR whitening system creates more dramatic, longer-lasting results than you’d get with other whitening options.
Pros
- The KöR deep bleaching teeth whitening system is one of the few that can adequately whiten teeth stained by tetracycline, an antibiotic that can cause permanent tooth stains. Be aware, however, that teeth whitening results after tetracycline are impossible to predict. According to the company, “patients should expect improvement, not perfection.”
- According to Dr. Michael Fulbright, a dentist in Redondo Beach, California, KöR is associated with less than 10% of the tooth sensitivity that can often be associated with other bleaching systems. KöR helps prevent issues for sensitive teeth from the start by plugging your teeth’s tubules (tiny channels to the nerves within teeth), to keep the bleaching gel from entering them.
- The results of KöR are virtually permanent, “in the sense that the whitening will last forever, with proper maintenance [once a month touch-up] and continued hygiene,” says Philadelphia cosmetic dentist Dr. Leonard Tau.
Cons
- You’ll have to see a dentist to be fit for the customized KöR-Seal trays and get the cold-packed whitening gels.
- Dental crowns, fillings, and veneers don’t respond well to any whitening gel, so your teeth can look more mottled than white if you have them. It’s best to do this treatment before getting any visible dental work done.
- It’s more expensive than other teeth whitening products.
- In reviews, some RealSelf members have reported sensitivity for the duration of the KöR whitening process as well as pain when the custom trays were inserted. (However, those reviewers still said their KöR teeth whitening was “Worth It.”)
KöR begins with an appointment with your dentist, who molds a customized sealing tray to your teeth. This is important, because KöR’s trays are designed to be very closely fitted. “The thin trays avoid leakage and are designed to form-fit your teeth,” explains Dr. Fulbright.
KöR offers four teeth-whitening systems, depending on the degree and type of tooth stains you have. The option you choose determines how long you have to wear the whitening trays at home and whether you get an additional in-office whitening session after that.
- KöR Home is an at-home system that requires two weeks of daily or overnight application following the initial appointment with a dental professional to fit the tray.
- KöR Max adds an in-office whitening treatment to the KöR Home system. According to the company, in-office treatments are supercharged, with three bleaching ingredients to lift stain molecules.
- KöR Ultra offers an initial in-office whitening treatment, three to four weeks of at-home nighttime whitening, and a final whitening treatment in your dental office. It’s ideal for patients with dark stains.
- KöR Ulta-T is designed to target tetracycline stains, which are permanent and notoriously challenging to whiten. This involves an initial in-office treatment, six to eight weeks of at-home whitening at night, and a final in-office whitening procedure.
How soon you see results will depend on the system you choose and the scheduling of your in-office appointments. You’ll see your final results once you complete each step of your whitening process.
Updated June 13, 2023