Clinical Comparison of Take-home Whitening Strips and In-office Light-assisted Whitening

Objective: This clinical study evaluated whitening performance of a take home whitening strip regimen and a light-enhanced, in-office tooth whitening procedure. Methods: This was a two-treatment, parallel design, examiner-blinded, controlled clinical trial. Forty-four adult volunteers with no history of previous bleaching and a Vita shade of A2 or darker on maxillary anterior teeth were randomized to one of two treatment groups. Professional treatment involved light-assisted application of a 25% hydrogen peroxide gel (Discus Dental® Zoom!™ Advanced Power Chairside Whitening System) following manufacturer's recommendations. Take-home whitening regimen involved daily 30-minute applications of 9.5% hydrogen peroxide high-adhesion whitening strips (Crest® Whitestrips® Advanced Seal) for 20 days. Efficacy was measured objectively as L*a*b* color change using digital images at Baseline and Day 21 (20 days post chairside treatment). Results: Mean age was 38 ranging from 18-61, 62% of subjects were female. Treatments were balanced on baseline demographics and tooth color. At Day 21, both groups demonstrated significant (p < 0.001) improvement in b*(yellowness) and L*(lightness) color parameters relative to Baseline. After adjusting for baseline and age, Day 21 Δb* means (SE) were –1.81(0.14) for the strip group and –1.76(0.20) for the light+gel group, not differing significantly (p = 0.82). Day 21 adjusted ΔL* means (SE) were 1.72 (0.10) for the strip group and 1.17 (0.15) for the light+gel group, significantly (p = 0.005) favoring the strip group. Both treatments were well-tolerated. Conclusion: Use of a take home whitening strip regimen resulted in similar tooth yellowness reduction and greater lightness improvement as that of a professional chairside light-assisted whitening procedure.