Best At-Home Teeth Whitening Kit - Pros, Cons, & How to Use
You may have noticed that your teeth are less white after weeks of regularly drinking coffee, tea, or wine. And sometimes not even regular brushing and flossing can get rid of this yellowing or stains. So what about teeth whitening?
Can a single teeth whitening kit get rid of yellow teeth, teeth stains, and brighten your smile? And can you do this at home or do you need to schedule a dental appointment?
In this article, we’re going to cover at-home teeth whitening kits that use LED light and brighten your teeth as good as going to the dentist.
The AuraGlow Kit is one of the best LED teeth whitening kit available on the market because it produces professional quality results and you can do it all right from your home.
The AuraGlow Kit uses light to speed up the whitening process of its carbamide peroxide whitening gel, so a complete treatment only takes 30 minutes. And it can be reused 20 times so it’s very cost-friendly (about $2/treatment).
There is a built-in timer on the light so that you can keep track of how long the whitening solution has been in contact with your teeth. This makes Auro Glow Kit safe and easy to use at home.
The whitening gel is also kosher, gluten-free and safe for tooth enamel. The Aura Glow Kit is also built to be easy to store with a container for your mouth mold and individually packed treatments.
The AuraGlow Kit comes with a LED light and 5 replacement light bulbs, a mouth tray and mouth tray storage case, and whitening gel with 2 gel syringes to make it easy for you to add gel to your mouth trays.
The Glo Science Brilliant Teeth Whitening Kit uses a clinically proven light AND heat technology to quickly whiten your teeth. Most teeth whitening kits available on the market rely on just light, but Glo Science Kit adds heat to speed up the process even more than just using light. Each Glo Science session is only 8 minutes!
This makes the Glo Science kit the best available option for people with sensitive teeth and gums. If you’ve used other whitening kits and always deal with gum irritation or tooth sensitivity to hot and cold foods, but are dedicated to whitening your teeth regularly, the Glo Science kit is a great investment. At about $200 each, it is more expensive than our other 2 recommendations, but it’s still much cheaper than a dental whitening appointment.
The Glo Science Kit comes with refills for 40 whitening sessions (calculating to about $5/session), a mouth tray with a storage case, GLO lip treatment, GLO Control, a power cord, a lanyard, and a case to store everything efficiently for your repeat sessions.
The iSmile Teeth Whitening Kit is a California-based newer player on the block that is well-reviewed for its ability to remove teeth stains in sessions that last just 10 minutes.
It can be reused easily for up to 22 mouth treatments, and you can order just the refills if you want to continue to use the rest of the iSmile Teeth Whitening Kit. That’s less than $2 per treatment.
The iSmile Teeth Whitening Kit includes a LED light with batteries, 3 mint-flavored whitening gel syringes, a mouth tray, and if you have sensitive teeth and gums, a desensitizing gel. iSmile also offers a 100% guarantee on their kits so if it doesn’t work you, you can return it for a refund.
Almost everyone deals with yellowing or staining teeth that result either from food or just from age. Even if you brush, floss, and gargle with an anti-cavity mouthwash twice a day, drinking coffee or tea, smoking cigarettes, enjoying some red wine can dim your pearly white teeth. You can use whitening mouthwashes or toothpaste to help remove these surface stains. Realistically, these surface stains are normal and part of life and can be dealt with through regular care, but there’s more to the problem.
Under our teeth enamel, we have another layer of calcified tissue called dentin. The dentin is naturally a yellow color, gets darker over the course of your life, and this layer gets bigger as you age. If your tooth enamel erodes or thins out due to bad habits or age, your dentin starts to show through and give your teeth a darker or yellower appearance. This discoloration is deeper than your surface stains. Whitening toothpaste or mouthwashes may not be effective enough to deal with this, but blue light led tooth whitening can quickly remove these yellow stains.
Blue LED light tooth whitening works by applying a bleaching gel to your teeth and then using a blue spectrum visible LED light to speed up the bleaching process. The bleaching solution lifts the discolored yellowing molecules from the dentin but you don’t want the solution on your teeth for too long because that your tooth’s dentin layer is responsible for transmitting your tooth sensitive to the nerves underneath and leaving the bleaching solution on for too long leads to teeth and gum sensitivity and pain. So the blue LED light is used to speed up the bleach’s chemical process and get the same whitening results in a shorter time period without the side effects of tooth sensitivity.
Here are how many Blue Light LED tooth whitening systems work:
There are many blue light led teeth whitening kits available to use at home and many of them are cheaper than a dental appointment. These kits are easy and safe to use at home on yourself.
While it is easy to quickly whiten your teeth with a LED tooth whitening system, we want to make sure you understand both the benefits and the few caveats to the process. Here are the pros and cons of whitening your teeth with a LED tooth whitening system.
Affordable – LED tooth whitening systems cost less than $100 which is way cheaper than treatment at your dentist’s office.
Convenient – You can whiten your teeth at home when you have free time. There’s no appointment to schedule.
Effective – They work! At home led teeth whitening systems show results and whiten your teeth. They use the same technology as the system at your dentist’s office.
Safe – LED light is safe for use at home. LED Teeth Whitening systems are engineered for use at home and if you follow the instructions, are nearly impossible to overdo.
Not Permanent – No type of teeth whitening is not permanent. You don’t stop eating foods that stain your teeth and you continue to get older, so you continue to develop surface and deeper stains on your teeth. So remember to continue to maintain your teeth with followup treatments every 6 to 12 months.
Not Safe For Pregnancy – If you get pregnant, you should wait until after you have your baby to try a teeth whitening system at home or at a dentist.
Does not work on Dentures, Veneers or False Teeth – Teeth whitening systems only work on real teeth and will not other surfaces like dentures or veneers.
Most people experience no side effects from teeth whitening, but for a few, there are some risks or side effects.
Gum irritation: If the bleaching solution in the whitening kit stays on your gums, tongue or internal mouth skin for longer than instructed, you may notice some irritation and redness in your mouth. This is not a permanent side effect and it will heal in a few days. You should eat non-acidic and non-abrasive foods until the irritation heals.
Sensitivity: You may notice short term hypersensitivity in your gums or teeth after your whitening treatment. This is normal and not permanent. It can be uncomfortable but you should notice that it goes away quickly.
Enamel Damage: If you leave the bleaching solution on for too long or use the whitening system more often than recommended, you can end up with enamel damage. This is permanent damage so it’s important to take your whitening system instructions seriously.
Remember if you’re pregnant, please do not use a LED teeth brightening system. There is not enough research that shows that this is a safe procedure for pregnant people and we recommend that you avoid it until after you deliver your baby.
There are 3 types of teeth stains – extrinsic stains (surface stains on your teeth) and intrinsic (yellowing or darkening of an internal layer of your tooth called dentin), and age-related staining which can be a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic.
Extrinsic stains exist on your tooth’s surface or tooth enamel and can be caused by coffee, tea, wine, or smoking. Minor extrinsic stains can be removed by practicing daily good oral hygiene that includes brushing your teeth, flossing, and visiting your dentist once or twice a year for a professional cleaning. You can also whitening toothpaste, mouthwashes, and strips to keep extrinsic stains at bay.
Intrinsic stains are when an inner layer of your tooth called the dentin (sits right underneath your enamel) yellows or darkens due to tooth trauma or certain medication. These types of stains usually require a bleaching solution along with LED light that helps the bleach go through the enamel and reach the dentin layer to remove the yellowed molecules to reveal white teeth again. You can use LED teeth whitening kits to remove intrinsic stains.
Age-Related stains are both extrinsic and intrinsic. Your dentin layer generally gets darker or yellowed with age and your tooth enamel gets thinner, revealing more dentin. And food stains can build up over time. Regular use of LED teeth whitening kits can help reduce age-related stains.
Teeth whitening at the dentist’s office will cost you several hundreds of dollars, not to mention the hassle of making appointments and physically going to the dentist. And some whitening treatments that use special lasers can be even more expensive, totaling in the $1000s.
Instead, you can save money and time for the convenience and ease of using an at-home LED whitening kit that costs less than $100 and whitens your teeth just as effectively. Most professional whitening systems also last about 6 months and then you have to go back to the dentist for another treatment. At-home LED whitening kits last about the same time and can be reused when you want to do another treatment in 6 months.
Why spend $1000s for a treatment that you’re going to have to get redone to maintain your pearly whites when you can spend less than $100 to whiten your teeth right at home.
Teeth whitening does not hurt if done properly. Few people experience any side effects from teeth whitening, but if you leave the whitening solution on for too long, you may experience some minor gum irritation and sensitivity. If done correctly, however, teeth whitening is a painless process that easily removes external and deeper teeth stains and returns your teeth to their original bright white color.
You can whiten your teeth with a LED whitening system once every 6 months or more, depending on how quickly your teeth lose their brightness. We do not recommend LED teeth whitening more frequently than once each 6 month period, because you can develop gum and tooth sensitivity, gum or mouth skin irritation, or even damage your tooth enamel.
LED teeth whitening kits are the safest way to whiten teeth because they use a blue light accelerator to speed up how quickly the whitening solutions lift the stains on your teeth. This means the whitening solutions (usually a type of bleach or hydrogen peroxide) has a shorter contact time with your teeth than if you were to use a whitening strip or system that didn’t use blue light. Less contact time means less gum sensitivity, irritation, or enamel damage.
Read more about how LED teeth whitening works.
LED teeth whitening is not bad for your teeth and is considered a safe way to whiten your teeth. Make sure to not leave the whitening solution on your teeth for any longer than what is stated in your whitening solution instructions, usually about 5 minutes. Make sure to read the how-to for the whitening kit you pick and remove the whitening trays and blue light when time is up to get the best results without any side effects.
Whitening your teeth does not damage them if you do not leave the whitening solution on for too long. Leaving the whitening trays with the bleach solution for too long can lead to long term tooth enamel damage and short term issues like gum sensitivity and irritation.
Most teeth whitening kits will instruct you to leave the blue light or LED light on your teeth for about 5 or 10 minutes. The light acts as an accelerator for the whitening bleach solution that is removing the yellowed molecules from your teeth. By helping it work faster, you only have to apply the bleach solution for a shorter period and so can avoid issues like gum and teeth sensitivity. Take care to not leave the whitening solution and blue light on your teeth for any longer than is recommended in your teeth whitening kit instruction.
Read more about the side effects of leaving the whitening treatment on your teeth for too long here.
If you do not follow the directions on your teeth whitening kit and leave the hydrogen peroxide or bleaching solution on your teeth for too, you may experience some short symptoms like gum or teeth sensitivity or irritation. But these symptoms are short terms and will go away in a few hours. Leaving it on for too long can also cause tooth enamel damage which is permanent, so it’s very important to follow the directions and remove the whitening trays when time is up.
Read more about the side effects of teeth whitening, it’s benefits and some cons.
You can easily whiten your teeth in a day. Most at-home whitening kits take less than an hour including brushing your teeth, applying the whitening tray to your teeth, total contact time and rinsing your mouth.
UV Whitening is an outdated method of teeth whitening that is bad for your teeth with other health risks. The UV light can damage your eyesight, gum and lip skin. Unlike the LED light products that we recommend in this article, you can easily overdo UV light treatments and burn yourself. There have even been complaints submitted to the FDA of UV burns from treatments conducted at dental offices. It is a generally riskier method to whiten your teeth. Now we have safer options like using LED light to get similar and better results both in the dental settings as well as in-home whitening systems.
Learn more about your options in whitening your teeth with LED Teeth Whitening Kits at home.
You have several options to pick from if you want to safely whiten your teeth and remove stains. Remember, teeth whitening is not a replacement for good oral hygiene. The best thing you can do to keep teeth stains at bay is to brush twice a day and floss at least once. This will minimize many of the surface stains that could develop on your teeth.
Still, many foods that we eat as part of our everyday diets like coffee and tea stain our teeth despite good oral hygiene. Investing in a good teeth whitening that you can use every 6 months is a great way to keep your teeth bright and white. At-home LED whitening kits are inexpensive (less than $100), convenient (no appointment necessary), and easy to use and reuse.
Keeping your teeth white and bright is easier than you might think!
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