Teeth Whitening Trays
In-home whitening is synonymous with tray whitening. It is performed by inserting a type of mouth guard over your teeth, which you layer yourself with peroxide. The duration of treatment is usually 2 weeks, most manufacturers don’t recommend you go longer than this. The lightening effect will be gradual over the duration of treatment.
Teeth whitening trays have been around for around 100 years. Before orthodontists started getting high-tech equipment like the light emitting diode, tray products were consumers only option. Since then, their market share started to shrink.
The biggest complaint about tray whitening is the time required to see results. Some tray systems seem to be very uncomfortable, so many consumers opted for in-office treatments. Office treatments usually take less than an hour.
Tray whitening has some advantages to point out. They will allow one to control the shade of their teeth, whereas in an office they can either come out too light or too dark. Tray kits also have the luxury of being very affordable. The prices seem to be very competitive nowadays. Tray kits will also have less side effects, due to a lower concentration and exposure to the active ingredients.
Tray kits can be purchased on-line or from your orthodontist. Prescription kits usually require a custom fit mouth tray. What’s great about custom fit trays is that they reduce the amount of time to be worn due to the fact that the contact between the solution and user’s teeth is more even. Dentists can take an impression of the patients teeth, then make a mold to match. Some retail brands have a boil and bite feature like sports guards do. It still seems to be less effective compared to your dentist’s mold. I would prefer retail brand over the one-size-fits-all brands if you would like to avoid a visit to your orthodontist.
The great advantage of home trays is that your lightening will be gradual. You can stop when you reach your goal. Those who have sensitive teeth will also notice reduced side effects due to less potency.
Carbamide Peroxide is the more user friendly of the peroxides. It’s more shelf stable than hydrogen peroxide, so it will last longer.
Hydrogen peroxide is stronger than carbamide. It usually requires supervision to apply. Freshness is important for full effectiveness, so check the expiration date before use.
Summary:
-Your doctor’s trays will always be better than the trays you receive with the store brands.
-If you have sensitive teeth, you react to hot or cold substances, you may want to choose a product with a low peroxide concentration to start out. There are kits on the market for this exact purpose, so read the description carefully.
-Always make sure you purchase from reputable manufacturers. You may need to do some homework to find out what is good and what isn’t. There are many reviews online for various store brands, so check them out. This industry isn’t heavily regulated, so be careful which product you purchase, especially online.
