Why Is Professional Teeth Whitening Better Than At-Home Kits?

We all want brighter smiles and it is great to see that there are different teeth whitening procedures we have access to. The problem though is that making a choice is highly confusing. To make things simpler, there are practically two main available choices:

• At-home teeth whitening kits
• Professional in-office bleaching procedure

Regardless of the chosen option, in both cases the bleaching agents include peroxide. This is where the very first different is visible with the two options:

• At-home teeth whitening kids include between 3% and 20% hydrogen peroxide.
• In-office professional teeth whitening uses 15% to 43% peroxide.

Generally speaking, when the solution is stronger, teeth become whiter. The trick is that the whitening solutions with a higher percentage can be put on your teeth for a much shorter time frame to get the desired results. This is highly relevant since when you keep whitening gel applied to your teeth for long, teeth become dehydrated. Tooth sensitivity and even pain can easily appear even when you use at-home kits if you leave them on for too long.

Keep in mind that at-home misuse of teeth whitening products is quite common. With professional treatment, this is not a possibility.

Before choosing between professional teeth whitening and at-home whitening kits, it is a very good idea to discuss it with your dentist. There are advantages and disadvantages of both. With at-home kits, you often do not see results. The big problem is that you are tempted to leave the solution on your teeth for way too long when the solution would be to just keep doing it. The dentist would tell you this.

Professional teeth whitening done at the dental office tends to work faster. The solution is stronger and dentists can use light or heat to make the process even faster. This involves several office visits of 30 to 60 minutes, although some dentists also specialise in longer treatments that last around 2 hours.

A big reason why people opt for the at-home kits is price. Kits do cost a lot less. However, this is because of the percentage aspect we already discussed. It is normal for stronger solutions to cost more. However, if you do the math, you might actually end up paying a lot less if you choose the professional teeth whitening option given to you by dentists.

Another thing we should highlight is safety. With at-home products, you are responsible for using the products in a safe way. When you go to the dentist, you can be 100% sure that there won’t be any safety problems. The treatment is not going to hurt your teeth since professionals know exactly what limits have to be in place with teeth whitening.

We can say that one of the biggest advantages of choosing professional teeth whitening is that the dentist is overseeing the procedure. He/she monitors results and can easily guarantee the best possible results. This is quite impossible when you choose at-home whitening gels or kits as you do not have the medical knowledge needed for it.

To sum up, although at-home kits might work, professional teeth whitening is safer and highly recommended because results are better and are achieved in a shorter time frame.