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.
The short answer
Take-home whitening is a professional teeth-whitening system that the patient applies at home, using trays made to fit their own teeth and a supervised whitening gel. It is used in short daily sessions over a period of weeks, reaching the desired result more gradually than an in-office session and needing more frequent touch-ups to hold it. It is also the usual way to maintain the result of in-office whitening between treatments.
Take-Home Whitening FAQ
- How long does it take to see a result?
- Longer than an in-office session, because home systems reach the desired result gradually rather than in one visit. A home system takes weeks of short daily sessions to arrive where a single in-office appointment gets to in about an hour. Exactly how long depends on your teeth and the result you want, and is discussed when the kit is provided.
- Do I need touch-ups?
- Yes — take-home whitening needs more frequent touch-ups than in-office whitening to maintain the result. That is the trade for the flexibility of whitening in your own time. Limiting staining foods and drinks and keeping up your checkups helps the result hold between touch-ups.
- Can I use it after an in-office treatment?
- Yes, and that is the most common use. At-home kits are provided specifically to help maintain results between Zoom treatments. The in-office session does the heavy lifting, and the kit keeps the result where it is.
- Is it better than a supermarket kit?
- A professional kit is fitted to you and supervised, which a supermarket kit is not. Trays made to fit your own teeth hold the gel against the tooth rather than letting it wash across the gum. 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, wine and other staining substances, and stop smoking, which reverses whitening quickly. Keep up your regular checkups, and use a whitening toothpaste as part of your daily routine. Touch-ups with the take-home kit then hold the result in place.
