Your teeth can be whitened in many different ways by a dentist. They are grouped into external techniques and internal techniques.

In external techniques, as the name implies, involves placing the whitening gel on the outer surface of your teeth. However, this method do not work for some types of staining like those caused by metal fillings or condemned blood vessels inside the teeth. External whitening can be done in two ways, namely home tooth whitening and Laser (power) tooth whitening.

In home tooth whitening, your dentist designs a rubber mouth guards precisely for your teeth. Then you will be given tubes of tooth whitening gel. Your dentist will give you detail instructions on how to apply the gel in the mouth guards.

In laser or power tooth whitening, your dentist will insert a rubber seal around your teeth in other to protect your gum. Hence, the tooth whitening gel is applied to your teeth such that the gel paints your teeth. A special type of bright light is directed to your teeth. The role of the light is to speed up the whitening processes. It can take up to one to two hours for good result. Internal tooth whitening involves the placing of the tooth whitening gel inside the tooth. This procedure is strictly for teeth that has been root treated successfully

So in internal tooth whitening, the dentist drills a hole in the tooth and put the tooth whitening gel inside the hole. For front tooth, the hole is normally made at the back of the tooth where it is not easily seen. Then he will seal the hole with temporary filings, while he leaves the gel inside the tooth. This process does not hurt because there is no nerve inside the tooth.

Then in a week later you will need to go back to the dentist to remove the temporary filling and tooth whitening gel. Now, if the new shade of your teeth is ok with you, your dentist will use a tooth colored filling to fill the hole. In some cases you might ask your dentist to repeat the procedure if you are not satisfied with the new color shade. Some times internal tooth whitening might require other types of whitening techniques to get your desired effect.