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| It won't hurt anything to rinse with hydrogen peroxide, but OTC peroxide that you buy at Walgreens, etc isn't concentrated enough to do any whitening.
Hydrogen peroxide is effective for bleaching teeth, but it needs to be more concentrated and in contact with the teeth for longer times than a quick rinse. Stronger peroxide will cause soft tissue irritation, which is why it is applied in bleaching trays custom made by your dentist.
Crest Whitestrips and similar products less effective but considerably cheaper than custom bleaching trays.
Be careful if you are going to bleach your teeth -- any fillings or crowns that you have on your front teeth will not lighten like your natural teeth. Therefore, they will be obviously darker at the end of your bleaching treatment.
The tooth whitening kiosks that you sometimes see in shopping malls are gimmicks. They cleverly structure their business so that they aren't regulated by the state board of dentistry and do not have to be supervised by a dentist. Also, their treatments, especially the blue lights, are not very effective.
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How to Pick a Dentist
