Tooth Whitening

When tooth whitening is carried out in the surgery your teeth will be several shades lighter in just one to two hours. First your lips and cheeks will be held back using a gentle retractor. Your gums and any exposed roots will be protected using a rubber coating.

A 40% hydrogen peroxide gel will be applied to your teeth. We use a chemically activated gel which means we mix it together just before we start and it will begin to work upon contact with the tooth. We have tried Zoom whitening and other light-activated systems and found greater sensitivity due to heat generation, and greater whitening relapse due to dehydration of the teeth. We have found our current protocol gives us the most stable results that we have been happy with.

We do 15-20 minute rounds and check the colour change and sensitivity between rounds. Once you are happy we take everything off, take final photos and issue you your take-home whitening maintenance kit.

If you don’t want to have your teeth whitened at the surgery, we can provide you with a whitening kit that contains custom made whitening trays and a peroxide based gel. To have the trays made we will first need to make a mould of your teeth.

• Home whitening can take up to 14 days to achieve your desired shade.
• An impression (mould) is taken of your teeth using a special dental "putty". These are poured up to create stone casts of your teeth.
• The moulds are used to custom-made whitening trays which are clear, comfortable and fit your teeth exactly.
• The right strength peroxide gel is decided for your case. We have both day and night, stronger and weaker percentages depending on your sensitivity levels.
• We show you how to use your trays and decide the amount of time again based off your lifestyle and sensitivity.

1. Safety of product - Unfortunately whitening is considered cosmetic not medical and therefore it is completely unregulated. The products that are sold do not have to pass testing like medical products do. We only use reputable medical brand whitening that has been around for decades.
2. Alcohol content - Unfortunately a quick way to make your teeth whiter is to dehydrate them. A lot of cheap products have high alcohol content which produces instant results that unfortunately relapse after a few days when the teeth rehydrate.
3. Swallowing product in non-custom trays - We all without contention agree that the stuff used to whiten should never be swallowed. However that's what ends up happening if you use a one-size-fits-all-tray or worse, no tray. Lots of product is loaded up and a lot of this gets swallowed or hits the gum, causing mild chemical burn. In custom trays we recommend a needle head of product per tooth - not enough to cause harm.
4. Beauty salons are generally only using 18% carbamide peroxide or 6% hydrogen peroxide for 1 hour. This is (at minimum, sometimes we use 9.5% if you do not have sensitive teeth) what we provide you for your take home kit. Your take home kit will give you 40+ applications, and you can always buy more product from us for just $20! Our kits are designed to last you forever - pay once, maintain white teeth professionally and properly.