I received a Groupon for a teeth whitening kit called Premium Home Whitening. Is this okay to use? Will it work? Is it safe? I don’t know how to judge these types of products.
Margie
Dear Margie,
I’m glad you wrote. I looked at this kit. There are three aspects to this to consider. First, the whitening ingredient. They use carbamide peroxide, which is a good whitening agent. That part checks out. Second, the blue light. This light appears to be bogus. It seems to only be there as a psychological agent. This bothers me. Adding materials that don’t work to make your kit seem better is dishonest. Third, is the bleaching trays.
Above, I have an image of tooth bleaching trays. When you have your teeth whitened with a dentist, they will fashion custom-fitted trays for your whitening process. This has the advantage of insuring your teeth whitening will be as effective as possible. It does this by ensuring the gel does not leak out and your saliva does not seep in, thereby diluting the gel.
The trays you will get with this kit will not be form-fitted to your specific bite. That will mean you will not get the full effectiveness of the whitening gel. In addition, there is a safety issue. The gel leaking can irritate your gums. I know of one case where a person needed a root canal treatment as a result of an over-the-counter whitening kit.
Given the cost of this kit, my suggestion would be to talk to your dentist about professional teeth whitening. Let him know the cost you were offered from this kit and see if he’d be willing to come close to meething it. If he does, you can get more effective teeth whitening in a safer way.
This blog is brought to you by Tulsa Cosmetic Dentist Dr. Jerome Cha, an AACD accredited dentist.
