I have teeth whitening trays my dentist made for me. He told me to wear them an hour a day, but that is hurting my jaw. I saw an advertisement for the Tanda Pearl system. They report that you only need to wear their tray for 5 minutes. It only has a few reviews. I wondered if you’ve heard of it and if you know whether it works or not.

Laurie

Dear Laurie,

I am glad you wrote. Looking at the product, it is just like any other run-of-the-mill whitening product, with the exception of their tray and light. As for the light, I don’t see anything in it that makes it work the way they are promoting. If it did, they could market it to dental offices and make a fortune. The fact that they are not, tells me that they do not want any professional scrutiny with it.

As for the trays, that is a bigger deal. Unlike your professional bleaching trays, these do not have individual trays. Instead, it is a single tray that you will bite onto and hold into your mouth for the five minutes. I actually think this will be worse for the jaw pain you are experiencing.

Not only will it be worse, but it will be less effective as well. The trays your dentist made for you should have been custom fit to your bite. We’ll get back to that in a moment. The trays that come with this kit are DIY. That means some of the whitening gel will be getting out and some of your saliva will be getting in. Both of these things dilute the effectiveness of your gel.

I’m going to suggest two things in your case. First, you don’t have to wear them for an hour. If they are bothering you, lower the wear time to half an hour. The second thing I would like you to do is to talk to your dentist about the pain you are experiencing. He or she can make sure they are actually fit to your bite correctly and make adjustments if they are not. Your teeth whitening will be much more effective with the gel and trays your dentist provides.

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