Teeth Whitening in North Phoenix, AZ

It’s hard to imagine anything more appealing than a sparkling, white smile. Yet our teeth rarely stay as white as we’d like them to without a little help. Fortunately, that help is available at the dental office.

Professional whitening comes in two forms, and the right one depends more on your schedule and your teeth than on price.

In-Office Whitening

Done here in a single appointment using a stronger gel than anything sold over the counter, with your gums protected throughout. You see the result the same day. This is the option people choose when there is a date on the calendar — a wedding, a reunion, photographs.

Take-Home Trays

Custom trays made from impressions of your teeth, with professional-strength gel to use at home over one to two weeks. It works more gradually, and because the trays fit your teeth exactly the gel stays where it should instead of leaking onto the gums. You keep the trays, so topping up later costs only a new syringe of gel.

Why Not Just Use Strips?

Over-the-counter products use a much lower concentration and a one-size tray or strip that does not follow the contours of your teeth. They can lighten surface staining. They are considerably less effective on deeper discolouration, and uneven contact is what produces patchy results.

Whitening lifts stains from natural tooth enamel. That is what it does, and knowing its limits saves both disappointment and money.

Responds Well

Yellowing from coffee, tea, red wine, cola and tobacco. General dulling that comes with age. Surface staining from foods with strong colour.

Responds Poorly or Not at All

Dental work does not whiten. Crowns, veneers, bonding and fillings keep their original shade, so whitening natural teeth around older restorations can leave them standing out. If you have front-tooth restorations, the usual sequence is to whiten first and replace the restoration afterward to match.

Grey discolouration — often from tetracycline exposure in childhood — responds far less predictably than yellow. A single dark tooth usually means the nerve has died, which needs diagnosis rather than bleaching. And discolouration caused by decay needs treating, not covering.

Where whitening is not the answer, veneers or bonding often are. We will tell you which situation you are in before you spend anything.

Whitening lifts stains from natural enamel, so it is worth knowing what it will not do: crowns, veneers, bonding and fillings keep their original shade. If you have front-tooth restorations, whiten first and match the new work to the result afterwards. Many patients book whitening alongside a routine cleaning and leave with both done in one trip.

In-office whitening is one appointment, which makes it the kind of thing people fit around a workday. We are on 16th Street between Glendale and Northern Avenues, minutes from Sunnyslope and the Glendale Avenue corridor, so the trip is short at either end. Hours are on our North Phoenix dental office. Whitening is also the easiest treatment to combine with a routine cleaning, so many patients book the two together and leave with the result in one trip.