Whitening and Bleaching Options
Adhesive Whitening Strips
In our office, when a patient expresses an interest in having their teeth lightened, we inquire about any previous experience they have had. The use of adhesive whitening strips is quite common and many people have had good results from these products. We often recommend these as an initial option when someone has no previous bleaching experience, as the products are relatively inexpensive and offer a convenient way to lighten at home.
So the popular Crest Whitestrips (notice they are not called Bleachstrips!) are an ever-expanding range of products (15 versions at last count) and it can get confusing. They range from “Sensitive” to “Professional Strength” to “Rapid Result”, but all these are in the acidic pH range of 5-5.8, which is not healthy for your teeth and is counter to the concept of sustainability. We have recommended these in the past and have carried the Professional Strength for some time, but we recently switched our top recommendation to the Sheer White strips primarily due to their biocompatible pH of 7, which is much more supportive of sustainable lightening. Their carbamide peroxide level is 20%, which converts to an available hydrogen peroxide (the active ingredient) level of 7%.