Q&A: Teeth whitening gel not working. Help!?

Question by Deborah: Teeth whitening gel not working. Help!?
About 8 years ago I went to my dentist and did the BriteSmile one hour whitening. It looked great right after they did it and within a few short days, my teeth went back to yellow. I called BriteSmile and told them what happened and they sent me back to my dentist to re-do the hour procedure. Anyway I followed all their instructions and the same thing happened after the second time. I had not tried whitening my teeth since because of my bad experience but thought I’d try again for my wedding in August. So less than two weeks ago I go to my dentist (a different one – DentalWorks) and told them what happened 8 years ago and she said to try the trays. So here I am wearing the trays for an hour at night for 9 days in a row and as soon as I take them out and brush my teeth, I can see a noticeable difference, then I wake up the next morning and can’t tell and they lost any white I got after I took the trays out!!! I just finished my second vial tonight (started with 10% then 15%). I am wondering if there is something up here. My teeth do not have any tetracycline, tobacco or any other discoloration. Just moderate yellowing. The dental assistant said my gel would last a long time but I went through (2) 2.4g vials in 9 days but using the recommended amount. The gel is Nupro White Gold Carbamide Peroxide Gel.

Any thoughts to why my teeth are staying white more than an hour or two after bleaching??

Best answer:

Answer by Jared
I think it might be more your eyes and the subtle changing than the teeth spontaneously going back to a darker color. That just doesn’t happen.. it is bone, on top enamel.

Derma-brasion might be more for you if the teeth have some sort of covering that isn’t normally there or as ‘strong’ or thick on others.

But, if your teeth aren’t hurting on the bleach currently — I would up the time your use them. Bleaching is safe for much longer than 1 hour.. just the lower the time the less likely to cause sensitivity. Move to 2 hours, see how they feel, .. then keep working up to at least 4 hours at a time if you don’t get overly sensitive.

This will be much more effective, and I guarantee if you continue to do this your teeth will become noticeably whiter.

There IS a limit to how white your teeth can become, and each individual has a level different than the next. It *is* possible your teeth are already at their maximum level of whiteness.. even if it looks yellow to you. However, your teeth would whiten after the bleach if this were the case.

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