Professional teeth whitening can restore your beautiful smile in no time at all. It’s a much more thorough and effective treatment process than the kits you can purchase over the counter at drug stores. At our Cincinnati office, we first schedule you for an examination to ensure you’re a good candidate for teeth whitening to begin with. We then polish your teeth with pumice, a grainy material used to remove any plaque on the surface. Gauze will be used to isolate your mouth and keep your teeth dry throughout the procedure. We’ll likely use retractors to protect your cheeks, lips, and tongue from the whitening solution. Then we’ll coat the front surface of your teeth whitening solution — which typically contains either hydrogen peroxide or carbamide peroxide as the bleaching agent. A curing laser light will be used to activate the solution. We let the solution sit on your teeth for 20 to 30 minutes. Once we’ve reached the optimum shade for your teeth, we’ll rinse your teeth. We may use a fluoride application to help with any tooth sensitivity, an occasional temporary side effect.