When you want to whiten your teeth for a specific special occasion, you need to plan ahead—although it's possible to achieve eye-catching results in relatively little time.

An Exact Date

Whether you're whitening your teeth for a wedding, anniversary, graduation, or another special event, you'll need dependable results by an exact date. As such, you can forget about using an at-home whitening kit. The results of an at-home kit may be perfectly satisfactory, but the results are not always consistent, nor are they as definitive as you may be hoping for.

Good Condition

An at-home whitening kit will offer gradual whitening if the teeth are already in relatively good condition—with no major corrosion or decay, or restorations such as crowns and fillings. The results may prove to be too gradual to be of much use. While the manufacturer may make claims about how long it takes for their product to work, these are rarely more than estimates, and their definition of success may differ from yours. 

Cosmetic Dentistry

For decisive whitening by a certain date, there's only one reliable option. You must make a whitening appointment at your local cosmetic dental office. An in-chair session accelerates what may take weeks or months to achieve using an at-home kit—assuming comparable results could even be achieved with a kit purchased from a drugstore or supermarket.

Immediate Results

Although the general principle of whitening remains the same when performed by a dentist, the active ingredient (hydrogen peroxide) is used under professional supervision. This allows it to be far more potent than the hydrogen peroxide contained in an at-home whitening gel. A dentist can also use a specialist curing light to speed up the process, and can strategically work around any restorations in your mouth (which can't be whitened), so that your results are even. These results will be immediate.

Timing

All you really must do is schedule an appointment with some time to spare before your special occasion. Timing is important. While you will be able to achieve the desired results in a single session, you may experience some minor gum sensitivity afterward. This won't be too disruptive, but for your own comfort, you should arrange to have your teeth whitened a few days before the special event in question. 

Even if you start whitening your teeth at home months before the special event, there's no real guarantee that you'll get the results you're after. So when you're whitening for a special occasion, you'll need to have the work done professionally.

Reach out to a service like Signature Dental to learn more.