DIY: How to Whiten Your Teeth

Teeth whitening products don't really whiten the teeth. What they do is remove stains from the teeth. Food, beverages, cigarette smoking and some medications stain and discolor the teeth. Teeth whitening products contain bleaching materials such as peroxide that clean stains from teeth. Many at-home teeth whitening products are available to help remove teeth stains. Some products work better than others, but all offer results.

Things You'll Need

• Teeth whitening toothpaste
• Teeth whitening strips
• Paint-on whitening gel
• Teeth whitening mouth guard trays

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Instructions

• 1

  Brush the teeth with teeth whitening toothpaste. These toothpastes have a higher level of bleaching agents. Use teeth whitening toothpastes the way you would any toothpaste.

• 2

  Apply teeth whitening strips to the front of the teeth. These strips adhere to the teeth with adhesive but also contain peroxide. Drugstores sell many different brands of whitening strips, but they all work in a similar way. Most brands instruct you to leave the strips on the teeth for 1 to 3 hours at a time once or twice a day. In most cases, you use the strips for one to two weeks.

• 3

  Paint on a teeth whitening gel. These products usually come in small bottles with small brushes. With the small brush you paint the bleaching gel onto each tooth. This process takes a lot of time. Once the bleaching product is on the teeth, you leave it on for 1 to 2 hours, depending on the brand. Brushing your teeth is the final step, to remove the gel.

• 4

  Use a whitening mouth guard tray. The mouth guard kits come with the materials and instructions to make a mold of your teeth. After the mold has hardened, you place a bleaching gel into the mouth guard and place it over the teeth. Most brands of mouth guard trays require you to leave the mouth guard on for 2 to 4 hours. A few mouth guard trays stay on overnight.