Chicago Smile Spa Premiere At Home Bleaching

READ THIS BEFORE STARTING AT HOME WHITENING!

At Home Deep Bleaching trays will be worn for 14 consecutive days or nights. Bleaching with at home trays is accomplished by wearing your trays with Nite White bleaching gel in them while you sleep or Whiter Image bleaching gel for 14 consecutive days. Bleaching with at home trays is accomplished by wearing your trays with the provided bleaching gel in them for 30-60 minutes.

You have been given a bleaching kit that includes two syringes of bleaching gel along with your custom trays. When you are finished with the entire bleaching process, place any remaining bleaching gel syringes in the refrigerator to extend shelf life.

Night Time Use: You will start your bleaching each night immediately before sleep. If you usually lie in bed watching television or reading before sleep, wait until you are ready to sleep before inserting your bleaching trays. If you cannot tolerate wearing the trays at night, you may bleach during the day for up to 4 hours/day. Your results will be as effective as if you bleached at night, but it may take longer and may require you to have more take home bleach to achieve your desired results.

Day Time Use: You will start your bleaching each day when you can wear the trays for 30-60 uninterrupted minutes.

Get your at home bleaching syringe ready. Remove the storage tip as you were shown. Inject just a small amount of bleach out of your Nite White bleach to ensure that both barrels are extruding bleach. Whiter Image gel only has a single barrel and does not require any bleeding. Twist one of the mixing tips onto the syringe. Each syringe usually is sufficient for at least one week of at home bleaching.

Just before whitening, brush and floss your teeth immediately prior to bleaching. On the first two days/nights of bleaching, use one Desinsitizer swab each night as directed by Dr. Alfe to firmly rub into the outer surfaces of the teeth, with special emphasis near the gumline and on the biting edges of the front teeth. Spend at least one full minute rubbing the moistened swab into the teeth.

After rubbing the swab into the teeth, try to keep your lips and cheeks away from the teeth for 20-30 seconds then rinse well with water.

Inject bleaching gel into the bleaching tray (except in the very back molars) as was demonstrated in the dental office. After injecting the gel into the tray insert the tray into your mouth. Leave the mixing tip on the syringe between uses. Each night, extrude a small amount of bleach before placing the gel into the tray (Nite White users).

The gel is thick and the trays are flexible, so the gel will cause the outer rim of the tray to be pushed away from the gum line. After you put the tray in your mouth you’ll need to push the tray back against the teeth to establish the seal of the tray at the gum line. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!

If you’ve put too much gel in the tray, you’ll notice a significant amount of gel oozing out from under the edge of the tray. Take a Q-Tip and remove the excess, and next time use a little less gel. If you’ve put in too little gel, you will see through the clear tray some large open voids (little bubbles are OK) in the reservoirs not entirely filled with gel. If you see this, do NOT remove the tray. There is plenty of gel in the trays to start your bleaching, but next time use a little more gel.

If you have put the appropriate amount of gel in the trays, when you push the trays back against your teeth, you should see just a little gel “peek” out from under the edge of the tray.

After removing the trays, rinse your mouth with luke-warm water. Cold or hot water may be slightly uncomfortable to rinse with at that time. Then brush your teeth. After brushing, apply the Desensitizer swab to your teeth again, following the same instructions used the night before. Clean the trays with Q-tips under COOL running water.

**You will only use the Desensitizer swabs at the beginning of the first two times of bleaching, however, you will use the swabs after each and every bleaching session. You will have 16 swabs in your take home kit.

WHAT TO EXPECT

It is unusual for anyone to have significant lightening on the first in office session. As Dr. Alfe explained, this is to “kick-start” your bleaching and our in office bleach primes your teeth for the next phase. Most patients notice significant lightening during their at home time. Your second in office session lightens your teeth further and “sets” the final color. For almost all of our patients, they are pleased with the result at this point. For any who wish to have their teeth even brighter, you may talk to Dr. Alfe about doing “Deep Bleaching” which utilizes 2 more weeks of at home bleaching followed by a third in office session. This is usually only necessary for patients who have significant deep and dark staining. There is a small additional fee for the additional “Deep Bleaching” treatment.

You may expect some slight gum sensitivity from wearing the trays, and your teeth may feel slightly sensitive. If you should feel more than slight sensitivity of the teeth or gums, please call Dr. Alfe. If you have significant sensitivity with the 16% night time gel, Dr. Alfe may recommend you switch to the 10% and/or skip a night of bleaching. You can also place Sensodyne toothpaste in your bleaching tray in the sensitive areas and sleep with it in at least one night.

You may notice that your teeth start to look “funny”. They may develop white spots. The area of the teeth near the gum line may look darker (this is just because the rest of the tooth will have become so light by comparison). Or the color may look too opaque (chalky). Don’t fear! This will all even out during the week or two after bleaching is finished. The white spots are most noticeable immediately after removing your bleaching trays. For most people, within an hour of removing your trays, the teeth will rehydrate and the color will even out.

You may find that your lower teeth do not lighten as quickly as your upper teeth. This is because the lower teeth are smaller, the enamel is thinner, and the reservoirs of the tray are smaller. Again, do not fear. If there is a noticeable difference between the upper and lower teeth when bleaching is completed, Dr. Alfe may recommend wearing the lower bleaching trays a little longer.

PERMANENTLY MAINTAINING YOUR NEW WHITE TOOTH COLOR

Night Time Users: You should wear the bleaching trays while you sleep, at least one night every two months for protection against darkening. This will keep your teeth a very stable color indefinitely. If you want to keep them at an even brighter white indefinitely, you may wear the bleaching trays one night every month.

Day Time Users: You should wear the bleaching trays during the day, at least one to three days every month or two for protection against darkening

Each patient, depending on his or her habits (drinking coffee, tea or red wine, smoking, etc.), may need to touch up more or less frequently at home. Bleaching gel for maintenance is available at our office.

OTHER IMPORTANT BITS OF INFORMATION

In addition to whitening, oxygen also deep cleans the teeth, removing microscopic debris from between the crystals of the tooth structure. During, and for a week or two after bleaching, these “pores” are cleansed and open (much like what a facial does for your skin). During the two weeks of at home bleaching, stay away from staining foods and drinks. We don’t want stain to fill in these microscopic pores during bleaching. Any food or beverage which would permanently stain a white shirt would also stain your teeth. If possible, when drinking a staining beverage, it may help to drink from a straw. Smoking should also be held to the very minimum during the bleaching process.

These precautions should be followed during the bleaching process and for at least one week after completion of bleaching. We want you to enjoy your life still while bleaching , so if you consume any food or drink that may stain, wait at least one hour after bleaching and ideally, brush your teeth after. At the least, try to rinse your mouth with water and/or chew sugarless gum for at least 20 minutes.

If possible, do not skip days/nights when bleaching. It will slow down the whitening process.

Store your bleaching trays safely. Keep them away from heat as this will distort them. Don’t leave them in a hot car. Don’t put or wash them in hot or warm water. Keep them away from any pets as they think they are a chew toy!

MOST IMPORTANTLY, place the trays carefully in the storage case. Store them loosely so they are not bent or crushed as this will damage them and they will not be able to be re-used. Keep your casts in a safe place in case a new tray needs to be made in the future.

We know you are going to be thrilled with your whitening result, but only if you comply with the above instructions. They are important. If you have any issues that are not covered in this sheet, please call us immediately.

DO NOT FORGET TO BRING YOUR DEEP BLEACHING TRAYS TO YOUR NEXT APPOINTMENT!!