What options do you have if you'd like to whiten your teeth?

There are a number of different types of bleaching systems that a person can choose from if they decide to whiten their teeth.

Tray-based tooth whitening technique.

Tray-based teeth whitening was the first at-home whitening technique to gain widespread acceptance from dentists and popularity with the general public. Since it was first introduced in the late 1980's, it has been the most widely studied and used at-home tooth bleaching method.

In brief, tray tooth whitening involves the use of plastic tray into which a whitener (usually 10% carbamide peroxide) has been placed. The tray is then worn for some hours per day, over the course of a few weeks, until the desired whitening effects has taken place.

Professional Tooth Whitening

Professional teeth whitening (in-office whitening), having been in existence the longest, is the grandfather of all teeth whitening techniques. As its name implies, this whitening approach is performed by the person's dentist in their office.

In most cases, the whitener that is applied is significantly more concentrated than that used with at-home methods. Because of this, one tooth whitening session may provide all of the whitening effect that the patient needs. Some of the professional products that we cover on our pages are the Zoom! ®, LumaCool ™, Opalescence ®, LaserSmile ™, BriteSmile ®, Rembrandt ®, NUPRO ® White Gold / Illumine ™, Sapphire ™, Beyond ™ and Niveous ™ bleaching systems.

Our Professional Tooth Whitening Directory

We've collected a listing of dentists and dental offices that we've identified as providing in-office whitening treatments. We've organized our directory by way of city/metropolitan area.

Paint-on Tooth Whiteners

Paint-on teeth whiteners offer a way of bleaching teeth at-home without the use of trays or strips. The idea is that an applicator brush or pen is used to apply the whitener to each of the user's teeth. As a plus for this technique, and unlike all others, it provides a way by which individual teeth can be whitened.

Tooth Whitening Strips

Teeth whitening strips were first brought to marketplace by the Proctor & Gamble Company. The current version of this product still holds its original trade name, Crest WhiteStrips ®.

Tooth whitening strips are thin films of plastic on one side of which a layer of whitener has been applied. When whitening treatments are performed, individual upper and lower strips are wrapped across the user's teeth and worn for a relatively short application time (along the line of thirty minutes). One or two treatments (depending upon the precise product that is used) can be performed each day. The entire tooth whitening process typically extends over one or two weeks.