Teeth Whitening Near UBC Vancouver
A brighter smile, supervised by a dentist
Teeth take on colour from almost everything you drink and eat, and the change is slow enough that most people only notice it in a photograph. Professional whitening at our clinic on the UBC Vancouver campus reverses years of that staining safely, with your gums protected and your enamel and existing dental work checked first.
We offer two routes: Pola Office+ in the chair, and custom take-home trays. Many patients start with one and maintain with the other.
What whitening can and cannot fix
Whitening works on the natural tooth. It lifts the stains that build up inside enamel and dentine over years of coffee, tea, red wine, dark sauces and tobacco, and it also helps with the general yellowing that comes with age as enamel thins.
What it does not do is change the colour of dental work. Crowns, veneers, white fillings and bridges keep the shade they were made in, so if you have visible restorations at the front of your mouth we will talk through the order of treatment first, because whitening the teeth around them can leave them looking darker by comparison.
Deep internal discolouration, such as a tooth that has darkened after root canal treatment or staining from certain childhood antibiotics, usually needs a different approach. Internal bleaching, bonding or veneers may suit those cases better, and we will say so rather than sell you a treatment that will disappoint you.
Pola Office+ in-chair whitening
Pola Office+ is a chemically activated in-office whitening system built around a 37.5% hydrogen peroxide gel, which makes it one of the fastest treatments available. It is designed specifically to reduce sensitivity: the formula includes potassium nitrate and sits at a neutral pH rather than the acidic formulations older systems used.
On the day, your lips and gums are isolated exactly as they would be for any other whitening method. The gel is applied for eight minutes at a time, with no high-intensity lamp needed, and is reapplied three to four times in the same visit. The whole appointment is short, and most people go back to their day straight afterwards.
Because the activation is chemical rather than light-driven, results are comparable to light-activated systems but reached in less chair time and generally with less sensitivity afterwards. It suits students and staff on campus who want a single appointment before a graduation, a wedding, a job interview or a reunion.
Custom take-home whitening trays
Take-home whitening gives you the same professional-strength result at a gentler pace, and it is the option most people choose when they want control over how far they go.
We start by taking precise impressions of your upper and lower teeth. A few days later you come back for trays made to fit only your mouth, along with whitening gel and instructions. Each evening you place a small amount of gel in the marked areas of the trays and wear them, typically for ten consecutive nights.
If your teeth get sensitive partway through, you simply pause for a night or two and resume once it settles. Keep the trays somewhere safe afterwards and they will serve for touch-ups for years; you only need to buy more gel, which you can get from our office.
What results to expect
Most patients lighten by several shades, and up to around eight shades is achievable on teeth that have taken on a lot of surface and age-related colour. How far you go depends on where you started, what caused the staining and how your enamel responds.
Whitening is not permanent. The same habits that stained your teeth in the first place will gradually dull the result, so how long it lasts depends largely on how much coffee, tea, red wine and tobacco goes past them. With occasional touch-ups from your take-home trays, a bright result is straightforward to maintain.
It is also worth saying what whitening does beyond appearance: patients consistently report that they smile more freely afterwards. That is not a clinical outcome, but it is the reason most people come in.
Sensitivity, enamel and safety
Temporary sensitivity is the most common side effect of any whitening treatment, and it is exactly that, temporary. It comes from the peroxide passing through enamel into the dentine beneath, and it settles once treatment stops.
Professional whitening does not damage enamel when it is supervised properly. The risks that do exist come from unsupervised use: ill-fitting trays from an over-the-counter kit let gel sit on the gums and burn them, and no one has checked beforehand whether you have an untreated cavity, a cracked filling or gum disease that whitening will aggravate.
That check is the real value of having it done at a dental clinic. We look at the whole mouth first, treat anything that needs treating, and only then whiten.
Booking a whitening consultation
A whitening consultation at our UBC campus clinic is straightforward. We examine your enamel and gum health, note any fillings, crowns or veneers that will not change colour, record your current shade, and recommend whether in-chair Pola Office+, take-home trays or a combination of the two will give you the best result. You get the cost before anything is booked.
We are at 2320 Acadia Rd, #110, in Lelem Village on the UBC Vancouver campus, with parking on site. We accept most dental insurance, including the UBC student plan and the Canadian Dental Care Plan.
Call (604) 238-1668 to arrange a whitening consultation, or book online. We are accepting new patients.