Using a tray-based at-home teeth whitening system. (continued)

Your dentist will provide you with a specific recommendation regarding the time frame during which your bleaching trays can be, or should be, worn each day. In general, teeth whitening with a peroxide whitener is a cause and effect relationship. This means that the longer you wear your bleaching trays during each bleaching session the quicker you will achieve results.

When you first start off, however, we would suggest that your bleaching treatments should be performed for a relatively lesser duration rather than a comparatively longer one. The reason for this is that the potential for experiencing side effects is a cause and effect relationship too. The greater your exposure to the whitener the greater the potential for experiencing side effects. So initially, at least for the first few whitening treatments, ease into the whitening process so you can get an idea of how you and your teeth will respond.

Teeth whitening treatments can be performed overnight.

One option dentists often give to their patients using a 10% carbamide peroxide whitener is for them to wear their bleaching trays at night while they are sleeping. An advantage to this approach is that the total amount of the whitener and the total number of individual bleaching treatments that will be required will be minimized. This is because each application of the whitener will be in the tray long enough to deliver its maximum effect. Overnight whitening treatments can be especially beneficial in those cases where the type of tooth staining being treated is expected to be stubborn.

Daytime teeth whitening treatments.

If bleaching treatments are not performed at night then of course a person's whitening treatments will need to be performed during their waking hours. Some people may find that their daytime teeth bleaching treatments conflict somewhat with their daytime activities. This, however, is typically the exception and not the rule. Even though whitening gels and bleaching trays are clear, wearing them can still be visualized somewhat by others. Some people will find that their speech is affected by the presence of their bleaching trays. If this is the case however, this problem is usually overcome easily with just a little speaking practice.

Most 10% carbamide peroxide whitening gels are effective for periods extending up to four hours. Some even up to eight hours. Daytime bleaching treatments that last for less than two hours tend to waste tooth whitener and end up extending the total number of bleaching treatments that will be required to achieve whitening results. In the case of extended treatment time frames, some dentists will suggest to their patients that their bleaching trays should be refreshed periodically by way of removing the tray and adding more whitener. Because of the great amount of variation that is possible, in all cases you simply need to ask your dentist for information about the application method(s) that they feel is best to use with the whitening gel they have dispensed to you.

F) Follow up appointments with your dentist.

Your dentist will ask you to make periodic follow-up appointments so they can monitor the progress your bleaching efforts have achieved. Tray teeth whitening is usually continued until you and your dentist have become satisfied with the color change that has taken placed or until that point in time when no more whitening seems to occur. After evaluating your progress your dentist will, if they feel that more whitening is possible, dispense additional whitener to you.

Additionally, at each follow-up appointment your dentist will ask you if you have experienced any side effects from the bleaching process. If you have, they will make recommendations regarding ways to address and manage them. This does not mean that if you are experiencing side effects you should wait until your next scheduled appointment to bring them to your dentist's attention. You should always feel free to contact your dentist regarding any problems or difficulties you have encountered.

G) Terminating your at-home teeth bleaching treatments.

Once your bleaching efforts have produced a pleasing tooth shade, or else a point is reached where no more whitening effect seems to occur, your dentist will recommend to you that you should stop performing bleaching treatments. Once the whitening process has been terminated there can be a period of time, possibly two weeks or so, during which the shade of your teeth may relapse slightly before finally stabilizing. Once the shade of your teeth has stabilized you and your dentist can make plans to begin the process of replacing your existing dental work so your restorations will match the new shade of your teeth.

How long does it take to lighten teeth using a tray-based system?

Treatment periods for tray teeth whitening will vary depending on a number of factors, among them the type of stain. Some tooth discolorations are simply more resistant to treatment than others. Blue-grey tetracycline staining and brown fluorosis staining have a reputation for being stubborn and requiring extended treatment periods. Tooth yellowing caused by foods, beverages, smoking, or the normal aging process, as well as mild fluorosis staining and slight darkening caused by tooth trauma, are typically easier to remedy.

For the most part, those patients included in the latter group will typically find that bleaching treatments lasting about two hours over the course of a two week period will produce 90% of the whitening effect they ultimately achieve. While extended treatment periods may be required for relatively more difficult cases, for comparatively simple cases the bleaching end point (that point at which no further lightening effect is noticed) is typically reached after six weeks of treatment.

How long will the whitening effects last?

The whitening effects that a person achieves can last somewhat indefinitely but in most cases a "satisfactory" shade change is found to last on the order of one to three years. One study found that 42% of the persons who had under gone the bleaching process were still satisfied with the shade of their teeth seven years later. Possibly more important, no one in the study, including those who were not happy with their current tooth shade, felt that their teeth had regressed all the way back to their original pre-bleaching color.

As you know from reading our pages there are various factors that can affect the color of a person's teeth. And even though a person's teeth have been whitened these processes will continue to occur. As an example, people who continue to have a relatively heavy exposure to chromogenic agents such as coffee, tea, colas, and tobacco products can expect that they will need to perform touch up whitening treatments more often. Possibly as often as every six months.

Once initially whitened, however, it is typically an easy matter to retreat or "touch up" your teeth at that point in time when you feel they are needed. And this happens to be one of the advantages of the tray-based teeth whitening technique. Since a person's bleaching activities are performed at-home on their own, they can use their own discretion and perform touch up treatments whenever they feel they are required.