Tooth whitening is an increasingly popular treatment regime but there is little quantitative evidence to compare techniques and so confusion exists for the clinician as to which regime to prescribe. Objectives: to compare actual colour change using 6 tooth whitening techniques¹. Methods: 60 extracted human teeth were cleaned, stored in water at 4°C then randomly allocated to one of the 6 active treatment groups: 1. 10%carbamide peroxide(CP)x3hrs; 2. 16%CP x90min; 3. 35%CP 3x30min 4. 3%hydrogen peroxide(HP) 3x30min; 5. 35%HP + PAC light²; 6. 35%HP + diode laser³. Colour was analysed before and after treatment with a colorimeter designed to generate L*a*b values. The change in colour was determined as DL/Da/Db for each tooth, then means were obtained for each group. Results: for the treatment groups the DL/Da/Db values were: group 1 = 2.7/0.36/-1.0, group 2 = 1.6/0.1/-0.5, group 3 = 1.6/-1.0/-2.8, group 4 = 1.0/-0.2/-0.3, group 5 = 1.6/-0.1/-1.9 and group 6 = 0.8/0.1/-1.0. The results suggest that the immediate in-vitro change in tooth colour was a lightening (increased L value) and a reduced yellowness (lower b value) which varied between techniques. Three applications of 35%CP brought about the greatest change in b value (P<0.001) compared to 3%HP for 90min which gave the least change in b value. Conclusion: the above tooth whitening procedures bring about different degrees of colour change.

1. Materials supplied by SDI Ltd. 2. Remecure, supplied by Prestige Dental Ltd. 3. Velopex Laser supplied by Medivance Ltd.

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