Teeth whitening, or dental bleaching, is a simple and inexpensive way of altering the appearance and colour of your teeth. The safest and most effective whitening will always be either performed at the dental clinic or under your dentists’ supervision. Your dentist will also usually only provide you with bleaching solutions once a comprehensive exam and clean is completed, as there are risks with applying bleaching chemicals to teeth with decay and unresolved issues.

Whitening products use either hydrogen peroxide or carbamide peroxide – depending on whether you are bleaching for a short period in the daytime or a long overnight period. Theycome in varying percentages, with home applications being limited to a certain percentage. A dentist can apply very strong concentrations of bleach to your teeth in their clinic, which gives a more profound result, however even this should ideally be followed up with some applications at home to give the best effect.

The alternative as at-home whitening where we fabricate some specially fitted ‘bleaching trays’, which are a thin mould of your teeth that allow the bleach to sit in close contact with your teeth and not seep over your gums. Your dentist will instruct you on how to apply this. Typically, people will do whitening at home for 2 – 3 weeks until they are satisfied with the result.

Dentist supervised teeth whitening is usually very safe, with minimal long lasting effects. However, the most common side effect is tooth sensitivity. Your dentist can provide you with some gels or pastes to help prevent this, however for people with very sensitive teeth already it may be unavoidable. We will help you decide which is the best bleaching option for you.