Teeth whitening systems: A review of professional teeth whitening systems available from your dentist (laser teeth whitening).

No doubt the number one question people reading our pages will have is: Which is best, having professional teeth whitening treatments performed by your dentist or using an at-home whitener? While the information found on our pages can help you to arrive at an answer we'd first like to say that using the word "best" really is not the best way to phrase this question. Here's why...

Peroxide-based teeth whitening is generally considered to be a function of two factors:

The concentration of peroxide in the whitener. The amount of time this whitener is in contact with the surface of the user's teeth.

This implies (and this may come as a surprise to you) that in order to produce the same degree of lightening, a teeth whitening system can either employ a low concentration whitener for an extended period of time (the method utilized by at-home teeth whitening products) or else a higher concentration whitener for a comparatively shorter period of time (the method used by professional teeth whitening treatments performed by dentists). And while our following pages will have more to say about each of these approaches, the crux of the matter is that both at-home whitening (especially tray-based) and professional teeth bleaching systems can generally produce the same whitening outcome. Neither method is necessarily "best."

Cosmetic dentistry makeovers. In Animated-Teeth.com's cosmetic dentistry smile makeover section we take pictures people have sent in and illustrate for them what kind of results a cosmetic dentistry makeover might produce. Use the links below to see some of our dental makeovers that incorporate teeth whitening into the treatment plan. Smile makeover #1 Smile makeover #2 Smile makeover #3 Smile makeover #4

The whitening compounds and associated equipment (bleaching light or laser) that a dentist uses when performing their in-office teeth whitening treatments are usually purchased from a manufacturer as a system, kit, or even a franchise. As part of their effort to promote both their particular whitening system and also those dentists who have bought this system from them, many manufacturers put on national advertising campaigns. Because of this you may already be familiar with or have a specific question about a particular whitening brand and its equipment. Here is a list of the professional whitening products we discuss on our pages and links to more information about each of them. (If the whitening system makes use of a bleaching light or laser, we have included the type of light in parentheses next to the product's name.) BriteSmile ® (gas plasma light/light emitting diode), Zoom! ™ (metal halide light), LaserSmile ™ (a Biolase ® laser), LumaCool ™ (halogen light), Rembrandt ® (plasma arc light), Sapphire ™ (plasma arc light), Beyond ™ (halogen light), Opalescence ® Xtra ® Boost ™, NUPRO ® White Gold / Illumine ™, Niveous ™.

Which is best, using an at-home teeth whitening product or having professional treatments performed by your dentist?

Let's ask our original question again: Which is best, at-home or professional teeth whitening treatments? As you can see we have still used the word "best" in our sentence even though we already know that both whitening approaches can typically be used to achieve similar results. This time, however, let's investigate answering this question in terms of which method is best in the sense that it best fits in with your lifestyle.

Comparing professional teeth bleaching with at-home teeth whitening treatments. Professional teeth whitening refers to a technique where a whitener is applied to your teeth by your dentist in their dental office. In contrast, at-home teeth whitening is a process where the dental patient takes the bleaching materials home with them and performs their bleaching treatments on their own, unsupervised. At-home teeth bleaching typically requires that the product user performs whitening treatments each day, over a series of weeks. In comparison, the number of professional teeth bleaching treatments that are performed is typically much fewer in number, possibly even as few as one. It has been suggested that, as a ballpark estimate, one hour of in-office whitening treatment can produce the same whitening effect as one to two weeks of at-home tray-based whitening.

More information about at-home and professional teeth whitening here on Animated-Teeth.com. What are the individual steps involved with professional teeth whitening treatments? At-home teeth whitening: Tray-based. At-home teeth whitening: Whitening strips. At-home teeth whitening: Paint-on teeth whiteners.

The teeth whitening system that is best for you can depend on factors such as: the amount of time you have available, your temperament, and how much money you have to spend.

Here are some characteristics of professional and at-home teeth whitening systems...

Some advantages and disadvantages of at-home teeth whitening:

• The dental patient must be capable of performing and complying with the whitening system's technique and instructions.
• The person must have the time and inclination to perform the whitening treatments.
• It can take some weeks or even months before the final results are seen with at-home systems.
• At-home teeth whitening products usually cost less than professional teeth bleaching treatments.

Some advantages and disadvantages of professional teeth whitening:

• The whitening effect is seen immediately.
• The whitening is accomplished in just a few appointments (possibly even just one).
• Professional teeth whitening usually costs more than at-home teeth whitening products.

The Zoom! ® teeth whitening system. Opalescence ® teeth whitening system. The BriteSmile ® teeth whitening system. The LaserSmile ™ teeth whitening system. The Sapphire ™ Chairside system. The Beyond ™ Power whitening system. The Rembrandt ® teeth whitening system. The LumaCool ™ teeth whitening system. The NUPRO ® White Gold / Illumine ™ system. The Niveous ™ teeth whitening system.

What's the best teeth whitening system for you? Which method seems to be the best fit with your lifestyle? Are you long on time and short on money? If so, it sounds like at-home teeth whitening might be the best choice. Do you have a big event coming up soon that you want to transform your smile for or maybe you just don't think you can incorporate do-it-yourself whitening treatments into your busy lifestyle? If this is the case then it seems that professional treatment performed by your dentist might be the best solution.