FAQ
We use the same type of method and whitening solution that Zoom and Brite Smile use, however the concentration of the whitening solution that we use does not require a gum protector.
This is the main reason why everyone loves our treatment, we pretty much eliminate the sensitivity and pain issues but still deliver the same if not better results for 97% of our customers.
Research has shown that if the teeth and gums are normal and healthy there are no adverse effects to bleaching one’s teeth. People with tooth decay and with any type of gum disease should avoid this treatment. We can never treat a pregnant woman; no known side effects are affirmed, but it is simply a precaution.
Some teeth are naturally pigmented or stained as they develop. Typically, stains come from exposure to tea, coffee, smoking, juices, colas, wine, age, or just about anything that would stain a white tee shirt. Discoloration is caused by stains that penetrate the enamel and stain the dentin, which is the white part of the teeth.
Actually, one of the main reasons most people love our system is that pain and sensitivity is pretty much non existent. However, if you already have sensitive teeth, you probably will experience some sensitivity but we have never had anyone complain about major sensitivity issues. One of the preventative measures we take at the office is having you apply a vitamin e oil to your gums before the treatment. This protects the gums from sensitivity and irritation during the treatment.
Some people may feel a little tingling sensation, white gum line (also known as blanching), or very little sensitivity. All of these side effects are normal and hold no real danger. Usually this will only last for a couple of hours and will not exceed 24 hours.
You’ll want to avoid eating or drinking anything for 2-3 hours after the treatment. Since the pores on your teeth are still open you should also avoid any dark colored foods and beverages such as coffee, tea, red wine, marinara sauce, smoking, etc. for at least 24 hours after the whitening. We say if it will stain a white shirt, it will stain your teeth. Keep in mind that your teeth are going to continue to get whiter because the bleach is still activated in your mouth for a couple hours after the session.
It really depends on each patient individually, if they continue any bad habits, such as drinking red wine every night, smoking cigarettes, drinking coffee, etc. and don’t maintain their teeth properly then results may not last that long. If they care for their newly whitened teeth, the results should last a year or two. It’s important to understand that whitening is a progressive treatment, which means, the more treatments you do, the greater impact (results). Typically, we recommend pursuing another treatment in about six months or so. Most people come in about once or twice per year. Also, with our treatment we include our maintenance kit that you’ll use once or twice a month to help maintain your newly whitened teeth and that ultimately will make your results last longer.
We guarantee that you will receive anywhere from 2-8 shades improvement. 97% of our customers get an average 5-6 shades of difference while many of our clients experience even more dramatic results than that. All teeth are different due to body chemistry, genetics, dental health, and mineral imbalances, etc. but as long as healthy teeth and gums you should see great results.
Almost everyone can enjoy the benefit to the bleaching process if their teeth and gums are healthy. Remember, teeth cannot be bleached whiter than genetically possible. Tetracycline stains cannot be removed. Also any stains resulting from excessive fluorides or if the teeth are porous, one can expect little result.
No, but the standard procedure is to first whiten all adjacent teeth, wait two weeks for the color to stabilize, then go to your dentist and have him match the crown/veneers/bridges/composites/caps, etc to the new shade of your teeth. On the contrary, if a crown/veneers/bridges/composites/caps, etc is already been in place for many years, the whitening process can return the rest of the teeth to the original shade prior to the crown/veneers/bridges/composites/caps, etc placement.
Hydrogen Peroxide is used by Dentists and Teeth Whitening Centers for chair side in office teeth whitening treatments.
Carbamide Peroxide is traditionally used in Take Home Whitening Kits. Any lighting used is to activate the hydrogen peroxide gel. When you get your teeth whitened it is the hydrogen peroxide that actually whitens them.
Something that many people don’t know is that carbamide peroxide is made from hyrdrogen peroxide. To create carbamide peroxide, a urea molecule is added to the hydrogen peroxide molecule and the result is carbamide peroxide. There is a 3:1 relationship between carbamide and hydrogen. For example, 12% hydrogen peroxide is theoretically equivalent to 36% carbamide peroxide.
However, as you’ll see below, this doesn’t mean that you’ll get the same results with 36% carbamide and 12% hydrogen peroxide.
In order for carbamide peroxide to whiten your teeth, it must first break down into hydrogen peroxide. The problem in using carbamide in chair-side treatments that are 15 to 20 minutes is that it takes at least 5-10 minutes for carbamide peroxide to begin to break down into hydrogen peroxide (and longer to completely break down).
Only when the carbamide peroxide has broken down into hydrogen peroxide can it begin to whiten your teeth. So if you use carbamide peroxide for teeth whitening during a 20-minute treatment, the patient will only have a little hydrogen peroxide on his/her teeth for 10 minutes.
We use a 16% Hydrogen Peroxide Gel (equiv to 44% Carbamide Peroxide).
In office teeth whitening procedures generally whiten what is considered the “Smile Teeth”. Your smile teeth are the teeth that are visible when you smile. Even with retraction devices, it is difficult to apply the bleach to your molars without avoiding your gums and the inside of your cheeks. However, we do offer home whitening kits that can help whiten the rear teeth. After your in office treatment you will have the option to purchase one of our home teeth whitening kits.
Getting your teeth cleaned beforehand is definitely a great strategy but not required. The only time we recommend getting your teeth cleaned is if you can see visible plaque in between your teeth when looking in the mirror. The reason being is because if you do have visible plaque and we whiten your teeth, the plaque will whiten too. If you get the plaque removed later after the whitening treatment then you may see some discoloration since we were not able to reach the tooth since the plaque was in the way.
We cannot whiten teeth if there is any type of metal attached or touching the teeth. The combination of the hydrogen peroxide solution and our lighting systems may cause black discoloration on the teeth.
The age requirement is 16 years of age with a parent accompanying at the appointment. Parent must sign consent form.
You are asking this question because you are probably comparing us to the most popular systems used by dentists. It’s important to understand that no matter what treatment you go with, we all use hydrogen peroxide gel to whiten the teeth and we all combine that with our lighting systems to activate the whitening solution which speeds up the process to get results in under 1 hour. We don’t have a specific name for our treatment per say, however, our treatment has been designed exclusively for RetroSmile.
In other words, we use the same type of method and whitening solution that Zoom and Brite Smile use, however the concentration of the whitening solution that we use does not require a gum protector. This is the main reason why everyone loves our treatment, we pretty much eliminate the sensitivity and pain issues but still deliver comparable results for 97% of our customers.
48 HOUR CANCELLATION/RESCHEDULE POLICY:
If you are unable to keep your appointment, please give us a call at 888-895-1352, send us an email at crc@sandiegosteethwhitening.com or simply reply to the text message confirmation we sent to you when you originally booked your appointment to let us know you won’t be able to make your scheduled appointment.
We require a 48 hour notice to cancel and reschedule your appointment. If you do not give us a 48 hour notice to cancel you will be required to pre pay for the treatment and a no show fee of up to $49 may be applied before we can reschedule your appointment.
Keep in mind that we ask all patients to show up 10 minutes early to sign a consent form before the treatment. If you are more than 10 minutes late, we may not be able to see you since we are fully booked every day. If you show up more than 10 minutes late this is considered a “No Show” and our 48 hour cancellation/reschedule policy will be enforced.
We do not accept insurance at this time. Most people will submit the receipt to their insurance company for reimbursement. We accept VISA, MASTERCARD, or CASH.
The reason why your teeth are sensitive after any kind of teeth whitening treatment is because your your teeth are dehydrated from the whitening treatment, leaving the pores on your teeth open and this is what causes tooth sensitivity. Now keep in mind that your own saliva will naturally rehydrate your teeth within an hour or so after the treatment, therefore the sensitivity will go away by itself.
We will send you home with our home maintenance kit that includes our remineralization gel. Our remineralization gel works very similar to Sensodyne (a toothpaste that helps alleviate sensitivity for people with sensitive teeth) in the sense that it greatly reduces tooth sensitivity by hydrating the enamel and coating it with a calcium phosphate protective layer.
So, if you do experience sensitivity after the treatment just use our remineralization gel to alleviate any sensitivity you may be experiencing.
We have had many people come in for a treatment who have sensitive teeth and they were all super happy with the results and most experience no sensitivity at all during or after the treatment.
TIME & CONVENIENCE. When administering a home whitening treatment. The treatment usually lasts anywhere from 7-30 days. While you may get the results you desire from a home kit, you will have to do a treatment every day for up to 30 days before you see the desired result.
With our in office treatment, you will see the same results if not better in about 1 hour. You will walk out of our office with whiter teeth, the same results that would take you days or weeks using a home kit.
So if you want to save a ton of time and get awesome results instantly then our treatment is definitely the way to go.
We have a very effective teeth whitening treatment that is guaranteed to get you quick results in about 1 hour. To start the treatment you’ll apply a Hydrogen Peroxide based whitening agent to your teeth. We then place our cold blue light directly in front of your exposed teeth for 15 minutes per treatment. The lighting systems we use activate the whitening agent and that’s what accelerates the whitening process, giving you whiter teeth in less than an hour.
We always perform what we call a “Triple Treatment”. So that’s 3 of the 15 minute treatments all done consecutively, in the same visit. The actual whitening time is a total of 45 minutes. Now there is a few minute break in between each 15 minute treatment and this is why we tell all of our patients to give yourself one hour at the office. The biggest benefit of doing an in office treatment vs a take home kit is that you will see results immediately after the treatment. We also include our home maintenance kit for after care. It’s very important that no matter where you get your teeth whitened, you need to maintain them for long lasting results. You’ll use our maintenance kit once or twice per month as a touch up to help maintain your newly whitened teeth, and that ultimately make your results last longer. As long as you have healthy teeth and gums you should get great results with our treatment.
Invisalign is a temporary retainer that is normally worn during the day or at bedtime and is removable. If your retainer rubs against your gums, we recommend waiting about 24-48 hours after the treatment before you put your Invisalign tray back in to avoid tissue irritation. We have a lot of customers that have Invisalign and they have all been super happy with the treatment.
There is virtually no preparation before the treatment. The only thing we recommend and advise you, is NOT to brush your teeth at least a few hours before the treatment. Most people brush too hard and tend to scratch their gums ever so slightly, causing microscopic abrasions so when you put the whitening agent it will irritate these scratched gums. As long as you don’t brush before the treatment you should be just fine!
We do use a cheek retractor that will force your mouth/lips open for easy access to your teeth. The retractor may have some effect if your fillers are newer in order for them to settle, but please consult your doctor regarding this to verify how long you should wait before getting your teeth whitened immediately after a filler treatment.
With that being said, we have many women as patients who have lip fillers that do our treatment without any issues at all.
Whitening does not harm metal or dental work. The main ingredient of our whitening agent is strong hydrogen peroxide. Low quality dental jewelry that use a much weaker cement or glue than what is used by dental offices may or may not be affected by the whitening.
The patients that we do see that do have dental jewelry get the treatment done without any issues at all.
