Overview of a professional tooth-whitening system containing 6.5% hydrogen peroxide whitening strips.

Professionally dispensed, at-home tooth whitening began with 10% carbamide peroxide gels applied to the dentition with custom-made trays. In the 1990s, higher-concentration carbamide peroxide gels were introduced to achieve faster results. Today, 15% and 20% carbamide peroxide gels are commonly used. Recently, a new vital tooth-whitening technique that uses a flexible strip rather than a tray to apply a 5.3% hydrogen peroxide whitening gel was introduced. The new strip-based product was shown to provide whitening equivalent to a 10% carbamide peroxide tray with half the wear time. In addition, the strip eliminated the need to custom fabricate trays for each patient. This article provides an overview of a professionally distributed strip-based whitening system and reviews some of the clinical data which supports the efficacy of the product. This new whitening system includes 42 mandibular and 42 maxillary strips at a higher concentration of 6.5% hydrogen peroxide. In addition, the system also includes a novel dual-action whitening dentifrice to prevent future staining postbleaching and an extrasoft toothbrush. Clinically, the professionally distributed strip-based whitening system provided 96% more efficacy than a popular carbamide plus hydrogen peroxide (equivalent to 10% carbamide peroxide) tray system and 52% more whitening than the 5.3% hydrogen peroxide strip system.