I was looking to remake my smile and saw this Luster Premium White At Home Tooth Whitening. It had some good reviews. Do you think this is a good substitute for teeth whitening at the dentist? My dentist doesn’t do any cosmetic procedures.
Brenda
Dear Brenda,
I’ve looked at several of these at-home kits. There are a couple that do work. This isn’t one of them. First, the light does nothing and is there purely for make customers think it is something special. Then, the whitening ingredient is really just a pigment– Zinc Oxide. This will stick to your teeth and make them look whiter for a while until the pigment wears off.
Real teeth whitening you get from a dentist uses a special peroxide gel to remove the stains. It isn’t a pigment that just temporarily covers them up.
You have a couple of choices here. If you are certain you just want to do an over the counter type of teeth whitening, then what you want is Crest Whitestrips. These do work but have limitations.
First, they only cover your front six teeth. Most people have smiles that are eight to ten teeth wide. That means if you want all the teeth to whiten, you will need to use four strips each time instead of two. Second, they are not as strong so you will need several boxes worth to get the same amount of whitening.
If you want an evenly white smile, faster, your best option is to see a dentist who offers professional teeth whitening. You can do take-home trays as pictured above, or some dentists offer in-office Zoom Whitening, which allows you to whiten your teeth in just one appointment.
There are many patients who go to one dentist for their general dentistry needs and another for their cosmetic needs so it is fine to stay with your dentist while still getting your teeth whitened elsewhere. Though, in most cases, teeth whitening can be done anywhere. It doesn’t really take any specialized training.
This blog is brought to you by Hoffman Estates Dentist Dr. William Becker.