Dr. Azarbal offers patients two options for teeth whitening: custom take-home trays with a bleaching gel or the in-office gel and light-activated whitening treatment known as ZOOM!® Whitening. Don’t want the hassle of using home whitening gels and waiting a couple of weeks for results? ZOOM!® Whitening system from our cosmetic dentist, Dr. Arash Azarbal, can be done in about an hour and produces dramatically whiter teeth.
How the teeth whitening process works
- Retractors are placed to hold the patient’s lips away from the gums.
- A napkin is placed over the lips and a soft coating is put over the gums to protect them from the bleaching gel.
- The hydrogen peroxide bleaching gel is applied and the LED light is directed at the patient’s teeth. The patient will remain under the light for 15 to 60 minutes, depending on how quickly the teeth respond to the treatment.
- By the end of treatment, the patient’s teeth will be significantly whiter—up to 8 shades in some cases. Patients are given take-home trays with a touch-up whitening gel to complete the ZOOM!® Whitening process
Take-home treatments
The most affordable option, this treatment involves using a take-home bleaching gel with a set of trays that are custom-designed to fit your teeth. You can wear the trays at night or during the day and your teeth will gradually become whiter over the next few days and weeks. Once you reach your desired level of brightness, you stop wearing the trays. You may keep the trays and gel for periodic touch-ups.
In-office treatment
The ZOOM!® Whitening system offers faster results without the need for take-home trays and gel. It is slightly more expensive, but only takes one visit and can usually be performed in less than an hour. With this system, Dr. Azarbal uses a special bleaching gel with a LED light to quickly activate the teeth whitening properties of the peroxide gel.
What about over-the-counter options?
The bleaching gels used by cosmetic dentists like Dr. Azarbal are much stronger than the gel systems you can buy over-the-counter. If used very consistently over a long period of time, the over-the-counter products can whiten your teeth. However, you are more likely to spend more money on these products and get poorer results because they aren’t as effective.
Whitening toothpastes will not have the same effect as peroxide bleaching gels because they only remove surface stains from tooth enamel. Most noticeable stains are ones that have penetrated and stained the dentin (the interior layer of the tooth). To achieve effective teeth whitening, you need a product that will stay on the teeth long enough to penetrate the enamel and reach the dentin.
