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Great advances in the dental industry now make it possible to achieve "dentist quality" whitening right in your own home, at your convenience, and best of all, at a fraction of the cost of professional systems.
Bleaching or whitening teeth used to entail having a dentist make a mold of the teeth and send it off to a lab for production. You then would return to the office in a week or so for your treatment (and your hefty bill) which took an hour or two and had to be repeated often to achieve noticeable results. Thankfully the professional process has been improved upon and streamlined a bit, but costs can still be out of some people's price range.
One of the benefits of opting for an in-home method of whitening your teeth is the sheer convenience. You choose when and how often you need to whiten your teeth and can even do touch-ups on little notice for special occasions where you'd normally have to wait for an appointment at the dentist's office. Another major boon is the price. Significantly lower in cost than professional treatments, in-home kits won't break the bank and allow you more flexibility and convenience.
The in-home whitening kits available on the market today that are tray-based, meaning requiring the use of a mouth tray similar to that used in a dentist's office, have also benefited from recent technological advances. Kits that have personalized mouth trays are comfortable and effective in whitening your teeth. The trays must be dipped into hot water and then pressed against your teeth so that they take the shape of your individual mouth allowing for a better fit, more comfort and better results.
Any effective home-whitening kit will contain a solution comprised mainly of hydrogen peroxide or a derivative. Hydrogen peroxide has been deemed safe for dental purposes for over a century and no adverse reactions have been reported from its use. Different kits contain different concentrations of peroxide and some even come with special blue lights. These lights are harmless, emitting no hazardous rays and speed up the process by activating the whitening properties of the gel or solution. Many professional treatments administered by a dentist use the same principle. Results can often be dramatic and vary depending on the starting shade and the amount of maintenance and oral hygiene practiced as follow-up.
For those people with only mild staining, whitening strips used in conjunction with whitening toothpaste may be the answer. These thin, nearly transparent strips adhere to the surface of the tooth and worn for the allotted time and then discarded. Whitening strips often take a few weeks to show the final result so they may not be the best option if you're in a hurry for a whiter smile.