Cosmetic Dentistry
Take-Home Teeth Whitening in Los Angeles
Whiten in your own time — and keep an in-office result going.
Not everyone wants to spend an hour in a chair to change the color of their teeth. A professional take-home kit from Smile LA Downtown Modern Dentistry does the same job gradually, on your schedule.
Against a session
How it compares with an in-office session
Not everyone wants to spend an hour in a chair to change the color of their teeth, and a professional take-home kit reaches a similar place gradually instead. Trays are made to fit your own teeth and the gel is supervised, which is the difference between this and anything bought over a counter — a kit that fits holds the gel against the tooth rather than letting it wash across the gum. What you trade for the flexibility is time. A home system takes weeks of short daily sessions to arrive where a single in-office appointment gets to in about an hour, and it needs topping up more often to stay there. For many people that trade is worth making.
- Convenience Whiten in the comfort of your own home, at the times that suit you.
- Duration Home systems take longer to reach the result you want than a single in-office visit.
- Maintenance More frequent touch-ups are required to hold the result.
Where speed matters more than flexibility, in-office whitening gets to up to eight shades in about an hour.
The two together
The two work together
The most common use of a take-home kit here is not as an alternative but as the follow-on: we provide at-home kits to help maintain your results between in-office treatments. An in-office session does the heavy lifting; the kit keeps it where it is.
Why a professional kit rather than a supermarket one
It is fitted to you and supervised. Over-the-counter options are less effective at lifting deep stains and give less consistent results, which is the same reason the in-office treatment outperforms them.
Making it last
Limit coffee, tea, wine and other staining substances. Stop smoking, which reverses whitening quickly. Keep up your regular checkups, and use a whitening toothpaste as part of your daily routine. The full picture of why teeth discolor is on the whitening page.
Take-Home Whitening FAQ
- How long does it take to see a result?
- Longer than an in-office session — home systems reach the desired result gradually rather than in one visit.
- Do I need touch-ups?
- Yes, more frequent ones than after in-office whitening, to maintain the result.
- Can I use it after an in-office treatment?
- That is the most common use. We provide at-home kits specifically to help maintain results between Zoom treatments.
- Is it better than a supermarket kit?
- A professional kit is fitted to you and supervised. Over-the-counter options are less effective at lifting deep stains and give less consistent results.
- How do I stop the result fading?
- Limit coffee, tea and wine, stop smoking, keep up your checkups, and use a whitening toothpaste.
