Whitening toothpastes do not stay in contact with your teeth long enough to have the desired “bleaching effect”. In most cases, these toothpastes are working by removing stains from your teeth. This may be effective over the short term, but in the long-term, whitening toothpastes are too abrasive and will damage your enamel, possibly resulting in yellower teeth.
Zoom and other so-called instant whitening treatments can work, but have a number of pitfalls. All whitening procedures have the potential to cause tooth sensitivity, but this is particularly so for instant, or in-office treatments. The sensitivity that you could get occurs all at one time, and can therefore be much more severe. Zoom whitening can also be very impressive initially, but fade to a lesser effect in hours or days. This is because some of the initial “whitening” that occurs with Zoom is actually due to dehydration of your teeth, or loss of moisture. When your teeth rehydrate, the chalky white appearance disappears, and you may be disappointed by the darkening that occurs.
Crest Whitestrips can be effective at whitening teeth, but are limited due to the small area that they cover, and the difficulty that some people have making them stay in place. We sometimes recommend them to patients with sensitive teeth as a trial to ensure that they are able to tolerate the whitening process.
Our preferred method of whitening is Nite White whitening, using custom trays that are fashioned to fit your teeth exactly, and Carbamide Peroxide gel, that is used in the custom trays while you sleep. We have almost 30 years of experience using this method and have found it to be the most effective, and safest, method to whiten your teeth. We take impressions of your teeth so that the custom trays can be made, then your dentist will go through full instructions for their use, as well as precautions regarding any potential problems that you might have during the course of treatment. You wear the gel-filled trays every night for 2 weeks to get the ultimate benefit from the treatment. Should you have any sensitivity, this method allows us to deal with it as you go along, and not allow it to become serious.