Host: So Doctor, how can I perfect my teeth right now? But if I am on a budget, if I wanted to manage, have something critiqued, I don’t have a dental plan of coming here to see you.
Doctor: Right. Well, there are few things you can do that are very easy and very quick. We can do selective milling of the teeth, means we just grind a little bit the teeth to reshape them. If you didn’t like the length of your teeth, we can just grind those down, the charge is very minimal. We can whiten your teeth with these take-home whitening.
Host: So I know there are two different kinds of options when you come in to get a whitening done and what would those two be?
Doctor: One would be the strips that you just put on your teeth, those are the least expensive.
Host: I think, the Crest Whitestrips?
Doctor: The Crest Whitestrips. They just go right on your teeth and it’s fine if you have nice and straight teeth.
Host: And that does really work.
Doctor: They do, they do. The ingredient are pretty much the same as they are in the other, the tray types that we make, the custom ones. The thing about the tray types, if you have any rotations in your teeth, the Crest WhiteStrips would sort of jump right over that.
Host: So you get uneven whitening.
Doctor: That’s right. So the custom ones will really whiten everything very evenly. As well, we can change the concentration of the whitening from different percentages of the active ingredient.
Host: Which one is the most effective? Because, I think, I have used like a 13, is that right? Which like I know I had a lot of sensitivity on my gums to drinking cold water, though I am just having the latte, which is kind of restating my teeth and then I have to bleach again. So which is the most effective that's not going to give you the sensitivity, of course, on your gums and your teeth?
Doctor: The lower percentage ones are sold in the pharmacies without a prescription. The ones that we sell as dentists are a lot higher, because we are there to make sure that you have no gum problems or cavities before we dispense them. I use 16% to basically 33%.
Host: Oh wow!
Doctor: So it depends how stained or how dark the teeth are, and obviously, the higher the concentration the faster the effects.
Host: And how often do you use that?
Doctor: I recommend, if you're not sensitive at all, you can do them twice a day 45 minutes each time. If you have sensitivity, you can do it once a day or once every two days depending.
Host: Then the laser, which you can come on and you'll do, that I know is stunning, your teeth glow, it's amazing, which is what I would eventually want to do. How much does that cost and how often you have to do it? Is it like once a year?
Doctor: For the laser whitening?
Host: Yeah.
Doctor: I'm less enthusiastic about the laser whitening.
Host: Why is that?
Doctor: Because, it is, one, we charge the patients a lot more for the effect, and in terms of six months down the road, the laser whitening does not last as well as the walking whitening. That’s, at least, in my clinical experience.
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