Should you use the tray bleaching technique to whiten your teeth?
- There wouldn't be a question in our mind that using a tray-based teeth whitening system can be a good choice, and possibly even the best choice, to use to whiten your teeth. Tray whitening methodology using a carbamide peroxide bleaching gel was the first "at-home" technique to become widely adopted by dental professionals for use with their patients. It has now been in widespread use for almost 20 years. At this point it is easy to say that the claims associated with this technique regarding its effectiveness and safety have withstood the test of time.
Which tray-based whitening product should you choose?
- After discussing matters with your dentist, you may decide to obtain whitening products on your own. Toward this end, we would make the following suggestions:
Select a whitening kit that includes a 'major brand name' carbamide peroxide whitening gel.
So many advertisements for whitening systems claim that their products are 'just like' the whiteners that dentists dispense to their patients. That may be well and good, but it seems a much better idea to us to use the exact same brands and products that dentists utilize with their patients. Products that have been, and will continue to be, under the direct scrutiny of dental professions as they use them on a regular basis in their practice. Fortunately, it is not hard to find tray-based teeth whitening kits that feature these brands of products.
( Here's a listing of brands that we consider to be 'major brand names' based on their long history of providing teeth whitening products to dentists. )
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- 'Custom trays' are bleaching trays that have been specially fabricated so they fit over the user's teeth in a precise fashion. The use of a custom bleaching tray is an instrumental factor in helping to minimizing the potential the bleaching candidate has for experiencing gum tissue irritation during the whitening process. Some whitening kits include impression putty that the user uses to create molds of their teeth. These molds are then returned to the kit manufacturer so that custom whitening trays can be created.
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- Some people will, from a previous bleaching experience, already have custom bleaching trays and simply need additional quantities of whitening gel. Once again, we suggest that that you only consider a 'major brand name' product. A brand that would be likely to be dispensed to you by a dentist.
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- Wearing custom bleaching trays is one way a user can help to minimize their risk for experiencing the gum tissue irritation side effects commonly associated with tray-based teeth whitening technique. This doesn't mean, however, that utilizing self-customized ('Do It Yourself' type) bleaching trays will unequivocally be problematic. And, in fact, for most whitening candidates, 'do it yourself' trays can be perfectly satisfactory.
