If you want to whiten your teeth beyond their natural appearance, your best option is to get it done at the dentist’s office, especially if you have damaged or traumatized teeth. Using an at-home teeth bleaching kit will not help you achieve the desired results because the color of the damaged tooth will not match the rest of your teeth after you apply the bleaching agent, costing you time and money.

In this case, going to your dentist to get your teeth bleached is recommended because the dentist can get the damaged tooth to match the color of your other teeth by applying the bleaching agent inside the tooth, which you cannot do with an at-home kit.

Even if you do not have a damaged tooth, going to the dentist is still the better option, especially if you want fast results. The bleaching agent used by dentists contains 15 to 43 percent of carbamide peroxide or hydrogen peroxide, the active bleaching ingredients, while the at-home kits have anywhere from three percent to 20 percent of the ingredients.