How Many Shades Whiter Will an Express Whitening Kit Give Me?
How many shades whiter will an Express Whitening Kit give me?
If you are considering teeth whitening treatments, you may wonder just how much lighter and brighter your teeth will be after the treatment. Unfortunately, there really is no way to predict a specific outcome or number of shades that would be achieved. The amount of whitening varies from person to person due to a combination of factors such as individual tooth structure and habits, from what you eat/drink to your daily hygiene routine.
It's important to note that some staining is more stubborn than others, so certain areas of your teeth may require repeated treatments. Older patients may also require more time with whitening therapy than younger patients. Finally, yellowing or “brown” stained teeth typically see quicker results than teeth that are “gray” in color.
Our “Express Whitening Kit” is named so because it can be provided to our patients immediately and only requires 30-60 minutes of wear time for each session. However, because the concentration of the active ingredient is 15%, many patients wonder about the results compared to our other whitening options, like our Custom Whitening Kit and In-Office whitening service. If you’re considering any of the whitening products we offer, please continue reading for more information!
Will a stronger teeth whitening product whiten my teeth faster?
In most cases, yes, a stronger concentration on teeth whitening will achieve results faster. However, the best way to think about the percentage strength is not how many shades but how many sessions may be required to achieve the desired shade. For reference, most over-the-counter whitening products have 5% strength, and our in-office service is 45% strength.
However, in some less common cases, patients respond better to 4 sessions of 15% whitening spaced out over one or two weeks instead of a single 2-hour session with 45% strength. In short, some patients do better with lower strength whitening repeated over a long period of time.
What are the different tooth shades?
Your Winter Park dentist uses a tooth “shade guide” as a reference to check both your natural and desired tooth color. Because every person is different, a wide range of tooth shades are available. The standardization of a guide allows your dentist and the dental lab to produce and reproduce dental restorations for you consistently. This is also useful for tracking progress on tooth whitening procedures to see “before” and “after” results on whitening. The primary categories of tooth shades are:
A for reddish brown tooth color
B for reddish yellow tooth color
C for grey tooth shades
D for reddish grey tooth shades
Within each shade category are several numbers indicating the level of that shade. For example, A1, A2, A3, A4—where “A1” would be considered the “whitest” looking of that category. In fact, to keep up with the demand for whiter teeth, new shade guides have been created called “Bleaching Shade Guides,” which include the BL categories and numbers like “BL1” to match the whiter-than-natural teeth colors.
For the Express Whitening Kit, how long is the four-session treatment?
Some patients ask if the express whitening kit is a four-day process or if the trays are used once a week for one month. In terms of wear time, the 15% strength Express kit is worn for 30-60 minutes at a time. We recommend whitening every other day, but some patients do it four days in a row. Most of our patients just do the four trays within a one-week period.
If I cannot achieve the whitening shade I want, how long should I wait before trying other options?
If the 15% express kit did not yield sufficient results for you, we suggest waiting 10-14 days for everything to settle before evaluating other options. A consultation with Dr. Yu would be the best next step in this case; however, in these situations, we typically see that the 45% in-office would be the most common path to yield results. In the case that typical whitening options are not yielding results for you, our office would help you consider if the staining is related to internal staining/discoloration, old fillings/crowns, or perhaps tetracycline staining (which is a side effect of some antibiotic medications). Make sure to follow procedures to maintain and keep your teeth white after the whitening procedure.
If you need a teeth whitening consultation or other services, please make an appointment online or give us a call!