Teeth whitening £450/500 at dentist - alternatives?

[DFOD]

She makes a mould and then gives you 2-3 tubes of some paste? Doesn’t seem a service in need of such expensive and long training and such a high fee - any other ways of doing this?

I've just received the cleopatra naturals teeth whitening powder, as a poster mentioned upthread, Also based on another Mumsnetters before and after photos. I'll let you know how i get on, just taken my before photo.

I discussed this at length with my dentist - in chair would be 450 and next appointment would be August

I chose £280 at home and loved it
Moulds taken , gum moulds provided with 4 syringes
No sensitivity at all , good result , much brighter , made me more aware of self care

I think it has faded quite quickly so I plan to do one evening session once a month maybe till syringes are gone

RubiesandRose, how long did it take your order for Cleopatra's whitening powder to arrive. I ordered 10 days ago and have received nothing yet

My last two dentists refuse to whiten my teeth.
They both said that for my age, 60’s, my teeth are ok and I should leave them alone.
I would love white teeth has anyone got any good advice?

There's a significant lab fee to pay.

The lab fee is perhaps as much as £40. The gels are a couple of quid.

Any price above about £80 absolute max (for dentist's time) is pure profit. All practices just charge whatever they can get for this because it's a good money maker (£250 at ours)

As a PP said, you can find the same service online where you take the casts yourself for a much smaller fee.

I'm a dentist. Sorry a bit late to this thread. There is still a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding surrounding tooth whitening procedures and regulations in the UK. This GDC ( general dental council) statement might help to clarify the position-

https://www.gdc-uk.org/docs/default-source/what-is-the-legal-position/tooth-whitening-position-statement.pdf

In short, be careful. You are messing around with your body, and whilst yes, the majority of tooth whitening is a relatively safe process, there are times when the procedure can go wrong, especially if you are using unregulated chemicals in your mouth.

Who would do that? Why would you take the risk? At least if properly prescribed by a dentist, they can supervise, and have the skills to deal with problems if something goes wrong.

In my long career, I have seen as a result of misuse of these chemicals- burnt and blistered gums and soft tissues, ulcerated, painful and necrotic. In some cases there were lasting scars.

I have seen permanent erosion/resorption of the enamel from overuse of chemicals that are too strong. The patients eventually needed more extensive crown work and in one case the teeth needed to be removed.

I've seen cases where in their naivety, a patient whitened their teeth but didn't realise the crowns and anterior fillings wouldn't whiten and ended up a costly fix to even out the colour.

I've seen patients develop permanent sensitivity, again as a result of unsupervised "treatment"

To address the PP's above who have suggested various forms of hydrogen peroxide formulas such as mouthwash on their teeth. Please don't. Unless it's a registered product it's unclear what you are attempting to do. The whiteness you might achieve is from
Dehydration of the tissues and will revert to original colour.

The custom made mouthguard are custom made for a reason. They are constructed to contain a reservoir to place the gel in safely, and a dam to stop excess product escaping into your mouth.
There are different formulae for day and nighttime whitening. The chairside "Zoom" whitening is personally a waste of my time, as I find those patients require top up trays anyway.

I trained for 5 years to become a dentist, plus I have over twenty years post graduate experience and training in this topic.

The orginal OP -"
She makes a mould and then gives you 2-3 tubes of some paste? Doesn’t seem a service in need of such expensive and long training and such a high fee - any other ways of doing this?

This is so insulting. Who is going to look after you when your teeth start to get sensitive or start to erode away? Who is going to look after you when your make your own moulds fall down or cause ulceration or occlusal trauma due to being ill fitting? Who is going to look after you when your diy chemicals start to cause pits and grooves in your enamel? Who is going to look after you when the chemicals on your teeth burn your gums?

Yes. You could be lucky and have a successful experience. But why would you mess with your body like that?

It's a bit like ordering a Covid vaccine over the internet.

I'm agog at the number of people on this thread who treat their teeth in such a cavalier fashion.

You really

I am sorry that you took offence. I haven’t suggested DIY so would not be coming to a dentist with the issues you outline - I have questioned the mark up for the which a PP has clarified and suggested ringing around as my £450-500 quote could be halved.

*don't want to fuck with your teeth

My tablet is such an asshole

@holdingonfordearlife I've just made a new thread but found this one. As you're a dentist, do you think Enlighten teeth whitening is safe to use whilst TTC?

DH is a dentist and offers those exact bleaching sets. Those are money spinners, the kits cost about £50 from the manufacturer and each clinic is free to set their own markup. £500 is definitely way on the top end. £200-350 is the norm.

Technician fees are bollocks because most large-ish clinics have an in-house lab for very basic stuff like this. It's simply one impression plus a soft guard and which are extremely easy to make. Nowhere near the level of precision needed for crowns or orthodontic work which you would send to a technician. Because the bleaching guard looks like an Invisalign tray, people mistakenly believe it's a lot pricier than it actually is. However it's much softer, made from a different material and way easier to create.

I had one made recently and it was ready within 24hours, all in house. Those do work very well, so if you manage to find a cheaper quote (definitely possible) then it's worth going for it! DIY stuff from the internet is obviously not a good idea and a lot of cheaper gimmicky things (there's one which plugs into your phone and uses blue light via USB or something) don't work so they will end up a bigger waste of money.

Absolutely bollocks, they're pulling your plonker 🙄
I recently bought the kit from the dentist and like a previous poster it cost £200 for the mould and three syringes of whitener.
It's the mould that costs the most money, you can buy the whitener online, 3 syringes for approx £49, I use Phillips Zoom nite white.
My teeth were really yellow, I'm a massive tea drinker, I never smiled with my mouth open, my teeth are really white now, I can't believe how good it is.
I'd shop around and get some prices from another dentist

Also to just add that your teeth can be sensitive after a treatment but I put a tube of sensitive toothpaste in my bag and rub a little on when I'm at work but the sensitivity wears off after a couple of days

Did the enlighten teeth whitening at my dentist after trying countless cheaper over the counter whitening products that never worked. I'm glad I did. Pricey but my teeth are gleaming so I'm well chuffed. You get what you pay for.

@RubiesandRose
Awaiting your feedback re the Cleopatra teeth whitening powder.
Some posters on the other thread were a bit dubious about it.

@LadyEloise1, I'm on Day 2 and my advice to date is not to use your electric toothbrush and in particular make sure it is switched off before you take it out of your mouth! My bathroom looked like an explosion in a coal shed last night!!

On a serious note, I will find back in a fortnight and let you know how I got on.

Just go to the hygienist regularly and get them cleaned. Having “bright white” teeth is not natural - despite what Hollywood might make you think!

"...My bathroom looked like an explosion in a coal shed last night !!!"

😂

I bought an activated charcoal toothpaste in Boots called Moon. Hopefully it will make a difference.

Sorry only returning to thread now. The costs are hard to explain properly. There's a lot more to it. Obviously there's the lab costs @£50 depending on your prescription. I like to add reservoirs or small sponge linings and like to include a dam to preserve the spillage. If I have a bruxist, I might reinforce the material to help avoid splits and tears, at an extra cost.
Then there's the licence fee that is paid to the practice, which covers your nurse's wage, the cost of PPE, utilities and materials- 4 gloves, 2 aprons , 2 masks and 2 visors ( for myself and nurse), not to mention the cost of disposable trays, handles, Alginate, disinfectant solution and storage/packaging/posting.

Then there's the costs of continued professional development, attending update courses in order to have the most current information and resources, especially to deal with problem cases. Then there is the cost of indemnity, so if something goes wrong, you have professional advice and insurance.

So whatever way you look at it, it's more than just supplying a few tubes and two moulds. Yes, of course we make a profit. We are a business, we wouldn't do it for free, but it's not as much as you think

Also I've not worked with Enlighten, but if it's correctly prescribed by a dentist, then it's safe

@DFOD ./ I agree completely. I wanted the onus to be on the dentist to make sure I was safe . This is bleach ffs , you don't really want to mess about with it and buying unknown stuff from the internet !

Cleopatra's Powder arrived yesterday. Interesting to compare retail cost (euros 29.90) with value of product (2 euros) ... Let's hope it works.

Thanks LeonardsHes I guess that makes sense. Fingers crossed it works