Teeth whitening not working

[Anxiousmum94]

I had zoom whitening at the beginning of May, which lightened my teeth by 2 1/2 shades in 1sitting. They looked better after this but you’d not think i’d had them whitened, they were just a little less yellow. So after pay £500 for this I then got the at home kit which I was told gives the best results and would help to keep my teeth white once they reached the colour I was hoping for. I’ve been whitening them with the at home kit for 2 weeks now, only missed a couple of days due to sensitivity and there is no more change in the colour of my teeth. I went to the dentist on the weekend and was encouraged to keep using it, and they swapped me from philips zoom to boutique but still no results. I’m wondering whether to give up as I’m having to wear the trays for 2 hours every day and it’s irritating my gums/ causing zingers and not changing the colour of my teeth at all. I can’t wear night time ones due to insomnia. Has anyone else experience this? can’t believe i’ve spent over £700 in total now and my teeth are only slightly whiter than before!

I think some people have teeth that are naturally a darker colour and there is a limit to how much lighter they will go. Realistically, lightening agents will not take them past their own limits and I think dentists should be honest about this and not just push further treatments that will inevitably disappoint. My own dentist won’t do Zoom as he says it temporarily dehydrates the teeth which makes them look whiter but this effect will wear off. I know it’s disappointing but maybe your teeth have reached their limit with regards to colour.

My dentist told me everybody’s teeth have a limit on how much they can be whitened. I recall he reckoned three shades is the maximum you can expect to achieve.

The dentist told me there was no reason why they shouldn’t whiten, i’d been told I’d see a noticeable difference in a week and for them to be B1 in 2 weeks. They’re giving me another syringe so will try again for another week and then they’re going to do a shade check