Whitening (or bleaching) your teeth is a simple way to improve your appearance and give yourself a confidence boost.  In-office whitening is a great way to jump start your way to a brighter smile.  The procedure involves having a whitening solution placed on your teeth, then shining a bright light on them to enhance the effectiveness of the material.  It takes about an hour and can bring your teeth up several shades.  The key to continued whitening is to use a product at home.  Your dentist may make you custom trays which you fill with a whitening gel and place in your mouth for an hour or so every day for several weeks, depending on your dentist's instructions.  Or you may use one of several other options available on the market.

If you want to avoid the expense of in-office whitening, you can do it yourself with products purchased at the drug store, like whitening strips or pre-filled trays.  These are effective but take a while, and you have to be persistant to get results.  Follow the directions and you should start to see some results in a few days to a week.  Whitening toothpastes are less effective because the material is in contact with your teeth for such a short amount of time.

Keep in mind that whitening may not be for you if you have visible (when you smile) veneers, crowns or caps as they will not whiten.  If they match your teeth now, when you whiten, your natural teeth will lighten and the crowns will stay the same, so they will appear darker.  Also, whitening is not recommended for children, or pregnant or nursing women.  Also, if you have a lot of exposed roots, whitening may not be for you as the roots should not come in contact with the whitening material, and they won't lighten anyway.  Also, if your teeth are naturally a grayish color, you will get some lightening but you may not get the results you'd hoped for. 

Some people experience sensitivity when whitening.  If you're doing it at home, cut back and see if that helps.  If you have sensitivity after in-office whitening, ibuprofen may help, and the discomfort will subside in a day or two.  If not, contact your dentist, who may be able to provide you with some desensitizing material.  Other than that, there are no harmful side effects to whitening.

It will take 2 or 3 years before you need to go through the process again.  If you drink tea, coffee or red wine you may need to touch up sooner. 

Give it a try!