If you have been planning to whiten your teeth, then you probably know that you can either do it at home or at the dentist's office. However, there is a third option you may not know about – you can get your teeth bleached at the dentist and then follow it up with at-home treatments. Here are some of the benefits of this combined approach:

You Get the Best of Both Worlds

Both in-office and at-home teeth whitening treatments have their advantages and disadvantages. Getting both forms of treatments allows you to minimize the cons and maximize the pros. For example, a common disadvantage of at-home whitening is that it doesn't give you access to professional advice or precautions on how to use the whitening products safely. Getting both treatments allows you to get the advice and precautions from the dentist.

The In-Office Treatment Jumpstarts the Process

In-office whitening typically uses stronger bleaching products that produce more noticeable changes in teeth color. This is possible because you get the treatment from a professional dentist who ensures that the strong bleach doesn't cause you any harm. Therefore, you can use the in-office option as a sort of jumpstart to the overall treatment and then strengthen it at home.

The At-Home Treatment Compensates the Color Relapse

It is common to experience a color relapse, a slight darkening of the teeth, shortly after it has been bleached. This happens because the freshly whitened teeth rehydrate and regain some of their lost color. The only way to deal with the relapse is to repeat the process, and getting at-home treatment after the in-office treatment is a good way to deal with this problem.

The At-Home Treatment Helps To Achieve Maximum Whiteness

A single bleaching episode is unlikely to get your teeth to their maximum whiteness even without the issue of rehydration. At the same time, your teeth may still be exposed to discoloring agents, such as food and drinks, after bleaching. These are some of the reasons why dental bleaching isn't permanent; you have to repeat it. However, you don't have to go back to the dentist after your in-office whitening; you can handle the repeats at home since you already have the pointers.

The At-Home Treatment Takes Care of All Teeth

Lastly, at-home teeth whitening may also help you bleach the teeth that might not have been treated at the dentists. This makes sense since some in-office teeth whitening sessions don't target all the teeth; the back teeth typically remain untouched (though this isn't always the case). If that was the case with your treatment, you can then use at-home bleaching to improve the appearance of the back teeth too.

To learn more about proper teeth whitening, talk with a practice such as Brandywine Dental Care.   

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