In-Office Whitening or Take-Home Kits?
Perhaps you have a special event coming up and just want your smile to look its greatest. Perhaps you're looking to undo some of the staining and/or discolouration you've accumulated with your coffee/tea intake. Perhaps you just want that white smile to look more youthful. Whatever your reason may be to get a dazzling whiter smile, you might be overwhelmed with all of the decisions.
So here's our summary of the factors you can consider when choosing between our take-home kits and our in-office whitening.
1) Convenience
Well, the names "take-home kits" vs "in-office whitening" is a clue to the convenience of it.
Some of you would prefer coming into our office for about 2 hours and be done with your whitening.
No clean-up on your part (because we'll do it for you)
No worry about 'getting every tooth' (because we'll do it for you)
No concern about daily 'whitening sessions" at home that can cramp your schedule
No need to work with those awkward whitening strips
Others will prefer the "comfort of your own home":
Allows more flexibility in terms of treatment times - you don't need to book with a hygienist, you can just use the product whenever you get a chance - and if that's midnight, then you can still go at it! (As a side note, if you skip out on it too often, you likely won't get the results you desire!)
You'll have to clean up on your own - and let's be honest, some of the trays-and-gels business that whitening products come in can be a hassle if you're doing it yourself. That's why we've chosen Opalescence Whitening Kits - because all you have to do is open up a package and put in the trays!
You will likely need to apply the whitening product regularly for a longer period of time in order to see results. So, if you're in a time-crunch (e.g. for an upcoming event), you'd either need to plan longer for it, or choose the in-office option)
2) Cost
If cost is a factor, in-office whitening is usually more expensive. You're booking:
The dental professional. Yup, it's always going to be more costly if you're paying for another person to offer you a service.
A higher concentration of whitening ingredients. That is, at-home products are designed so that they're safe for the lay-person to use and therefore, concentrations are usually much lower than what you'd get in a professional setting (which is why you have to use those products for a longer period of time, consistently - in order to get results).
A quicker whitening experience than if you were going the DIY route - the higher concentrations of (usually) hydrogen peroxide allow us to safely and quickly whiten your teeth!
3) Effectiveness
As mentioned earlier, you're getting a higher concentration of whitening ingredients when you choose the in-office option over the at-home versions. So, you're going to get a quicker 'white' in our office than at home. At-home kits allow a whitening effect over a longer period of time, so it might be harder to notice a difference - think small, incremental changes over time compared to a bigger change over a short period of time (that you'd get from in-office Zoom whitening). It could still get to the same shade of white as the in-office, but it may take much longer.
Effectiveness also depends on the original colour of your teeth. Many whitening options do not work on greying of teeth - the ones you see on tetracycline-stained teeth. They work on yellowing of teeth - and depending on how deep the yellow of your teeth are to begin with, you may experience a different degree of whitening when you try both options. Since every person is different, we would advise having the dentist examine your teeth to see if you're a suitable candidate for either whitening procedures.
4) Longevity
This largely depends on lifestyle factors - for example, how much red wine, coffee and/or tea you drink, etc. One who consumes these products on a regular basis may experience discolouration (again) quicker than someone who does not enjoy these drinks.
One option (that one of our guests actually recommended!) was choosing Zoom in-office whitening first to get that dramatic white. Then she purchased the at-home kit for touch-ups - which becomes way less expensive than constantly getting the in-office treatments as her 'touch ups'. Brilliant!
