What is the difference between whitening and bleaching?

Whitening is the general term that is so overused and actually just involves surface stain removal. This can happen when we brush our teeth with a mild abrasive, or have our teeth polished at the hygienist. Whitening can also happen with professional non abrasive whitening toothpastes and mouthwashes that remove plaque, debris and staining during use. These products are great to maintain a healthy white smile, but can’t help you achieve the desired shade. The colour of the teeth remains the same, but they just look a great deal cleaner!

Bleaching is an internal oxidation process using hydrogen peroxide gel. It needs a minimum contact time of 5-15 minutes to penetrate into the tooth and work its way through towards the nerve. This process doesn’t damage the tooth, but changes the way the light penetrates and refracts from the tooth , making the teeth appear whiter. Professionals advertise whitening, as it sounds kinder, where in actual fact it isn’t. Bleaching is safe, effective and non-invasive. It’s one of the most affordable and effective cosmetic procedures on the market.

This is also the reason over the counter whitening products don’t change the colour of the teeth. Most don’t contain hydrogen peroxide. If they do, the concentrations are so low and the contact time is also negligible, so the oxidation process required for the bleaching to take place, can’t happen. For this reason, mouthwashes and toothpastes are whitening agents, not bleaching agents.