Teeth Whitening in Calgary

At-home whitening kits often dictate that you use them several times per week for several weeks, and rarely offer dramatic results. Many kits are only designed to make your teeth a shade or two whiter, while in-office treatments can whiten your teeth by three to eight shades in as little as an hour.

This wide discrepancy in results occurs because in-office treatments are supervised by a dentist, which means stronger whitening solutions can be used safely. In-office treatments also often include the use of specialized lights, which enhance the bleaching process. Specialized bleaching lights and stronger solutions mean that in-office treatments can offer faster, and much more noticeable results in significantly less time than at-home kits.

Bleaching solutions can be hard on the soft tissues in your mouth, including your lips, the interior of your cheeks, your gums, and the roots of your teeth, leading to irritation and discomfort. When you choose in-office whitening, your dentist is able to apply a special protective gel to your roots and gums, and use retractors to move your lips and cheeks away from your teeth.

This helps minimize contact between sensitive tissues and the bleaching solution, creating a more comfortable experience.

Your dentist can offer you a variety of whitening solutions based on your unique dental needs and uses whitening trays that have been custom moulded to your mouth. Custom trays, as opposed to the one-size-fits-all ones included in most at-home whitening kits, make it easier to reduce the amount of contact between your gums and the bleaching solution, further reducing irritation.

If you’re drawn to the flexibility and ease of at-home whitening, your dentist can provide you with custom whitening trays and a bleaching solution suitable for at-home use.

For more information about in-office teeth whitening solutions, and whether it might be a good choice for you, please speak to your dentist.