Professional Teeth Whitening

[StyleO]

I'm looking at a posh dental clinic and they do whitening amongst many other things. I note that they charge £175 for a white filling whereas my NHS dentists charges £45 (I get free dental care but having it white is classed as cosmetic).

I'm presuming that the cost is just 'posh' vs 'budget'?

Anyhow, if that is the case, would there be any reason to go to a posh clinic for teeth whitening vs a budget NHS clinic? I'm presuming my NHS dentists will charge less for what is probably the same treatment? Or are there varying degrees of how good professional teeth whitening is?

Just to clarify, despite my dentists being NHS they offer cosmetic dentistry but obviously that is charged.

Bump

AFAIK You won’t get whitening on the NHS because it’s a non essential cosmetic procedure. An dentist within an NHS dental practice might offer whitening but it will be a private service and you will pay private rates so probably won’t cost any less than going to a private clinic. The only way to be sure is to phone around and compare.

PS. Make sure you do go to a proper dentist though. I’ve had tooth whitening from ‘specialist’ clinics and it wasn’t nearly as good as a proper dentist job.

Thanks, it's a dentists that is mainly NHS so very basic clinic. I just want to be sure that the treatment is the same so that if it costs less, it's just the premium for the luxury waiting room and service that I forego. Hope that makes sense??

The luxury place is also a dentist but has a more upmarket image and only does private clients.

You want to have your teeth whitened by using precious NHS funds, am I reading that correctly?

Pay privately, it’s a cosmetic procedure. Don’t make the NHS which is already on its knees for non-essential dentistry.

NHS dentists are not highly paid. They supplement their income by carrying out some private work too, just like many doctors and consultants do.

retired dentist here, tooth whitening can only be done by a dentist
it is illegal for any beauty saloon etc to offer tooth whitening unless a real dentist is coming in to do it
tooth whitening is almost never available on NHS sometimes is a single tooth has gone grey/ black because of root treatment ( mostly after trauma) you may get approval for single tooth internal whitening/bleaching which can have decent results
what whitens teeth is hydrogen peroxide the max strength allowed in UK/EU is determined by law so a posher clinic will not have higher strength there is limited evidence that light boosts whitening though it might be quicker
dentists taking impressions for a custom tray and you doing the whitening at home also works fine provided the patient follows instructions to the letter
how many shades whiter they will go can not be guaranteed ( it also depends on how many shades on the shade guide some shade guides have about 12 shades in four main colour groups in these 3-4 shades is the max you will achieve other more sophisticated shade guides have 40 plus shades so more shades lighter on guide but intrinsically no more lighter than with other guide it just appears more
approximately 30% get sensitivity with whitening some people will find it too sensitive to continue, if you can't brush teeth with cold water you probably won't tolerate whitening
private fees have to cover hourly running costs so a spacious surgery in prime location with high paid staff will have higher running costs than a basic NHS clinic with standard wages
when I did whitening at a 95% NHS clinic when we did private whitening you got the trays in a small plastic box and the whitening gel in a small bag with instructions on storage
The private clinic down the road had corded paper bags for the stuff complimetary brushes personalised tray boxes pre printed paper charts for filling in when you have used gel but the actual gel was exactly the same from the same company just in fancier packaging and they would have purchased it in larger quantities than us so probably paying less per tube than us too

@TeacupDrama

That answered my question thankyou!

To those querying, no I am not asking the NHS to fund teeth whitening! Some NHS dentists also offer teeth whitening on the side which you can pay for. What I was getting at is wether the predominantly NHS dentists with some private treatments available offer any less quality in the actual effects than the posh dentists who are completely private. I presume my local dentists will offer cheaper whitening than the posh place for reasons explained by Teacup. I just wanted to check the overall effect will be the same if I pay less.

@TeacupDrama

If the key whitener is hydrogen peroxide, am I going to get any better effects than if I was to use white strips at 10-14% HP??

I’m an NHS patient in a mainly private surgery. I actually asked about whitening (privately) recently but was told my teeth are white enough and that having an air-flow polish would give me the result I wanted (also paid privately). I would ask about that if I were you - it was about £70 and took 30 minutes for gleaming white teeth! I really appreciate that my dentist is honest and didn’t try to get me to pay for an expensive treatment I didn’t need.

I wouldn’t touch home whitening strips personally, I would want to know my dentist was on hand if there were any problems.

Yes, with professional whitening, you’ll get much better results than with strips (Ive had both).

Essentially, the strips dry your teeth out, giving the appearance of whiter teeth. They’ll look the same within a few hours.

With a professional whitening kit, you’ll use moulds, either for an hour or so or overnight. I use Opalesence 16% and I went from A3 to A1 and then had it done ten years later with Boutique Whitening 16% and went from A2 to B1 but I had to do it for six weeks to get that lift.

Each time cost £500 plus £16 per extra syringe beyond the course.

I’m a coffee and tea drinker so have to do ‘top-ups’ regularly.

the whitening strips on sale on the internet that you linked originate in USA and contain more hydrogen peroxide than is permitted for clinical use in EU and UK where 16% solution ( giving 6% peroxide released is the legal max for a dentist to use) 10% releases 3.6%
the legal maximum for a cosmetic product ( one you buy over the counter) is 0.1% ie toothpaste not enough to be effective at whitening

@nightsdofcabiria experience seems good and is what I would expect as a clinician, yellowish teeth whiten better than greyish teeth

I would strongly recommend you don't use crest white strips as you could damage teeth and /or gums and end up with irreversible sensitivity not saying you definitely will but there is a reason that nothing in UK or EU can get a medical licence if it is over 6% released
The EU do not believe that more than 6% is safe for the consumer even when used by professionals Crest white strips are unsupervised and almost double the considered safe dose

how crest white circumnavigate EU law i'm not sure; mostly by shipping unmarked from outside the EU I suspect