Stuart asked: So why do so many other whitening brands with loose-fitting trays still work just fine in a lot of patients even in the presence of their peroxidase?

Hi Stuart,

There are a huge number of variables. Also, differences in results expected by the dentist vs. expected/desired results by the patient vs. actual results.

One of the variables is the susceptibility of the particular patient’s teeth to whitening. Some whiten much more easily. Age often plays a role. As I believe I said in the webinar, even just OTC whitening strips do a pretty good job on many young teenagers, because young teeth are so very susceptible to whitening.

Also, it depends on what you mean by “still work just fine”. I don’t really know what that means, and in whose opinion. Bottom line is that when teeth are treated with loose-fitting trays as you mentioned, whatever whiteness they achieve would have been far greater with trays that sealed out the saliva and sulcular fluid.

I think we’ve all seen that on average, a patient’s idea of “white” is quite different from what our idea (as dentists) of “white” is. The overwhelming majority of patients that opt for teeth whitening want truly white teeth. If their teeth get “whiter” with treatment, most will say they’re happy. But they soon forget. That’s because their hopes were not fully realized.

I’ve lectured to thousands and thousands of dental professionals all over the world, and most of the time I ask the audience two questions:

1. How many here have had patients that, when discussing teeth whitening, have expressed concern that their teeth might get “too white”. Many hands always go up. Truthfully, ALL hands should have gone up. Patients see people with opaque, toilet bowl white porcelain and often believe they’re white and fake looking because of teeth whitening.

2. Then I ask how many in the audience after teeth whitening is finished, have ever had a patient state that the teeth had gotten TOO WHITE. I’ve only had hands raised twice ever:

A. One of the lectures was down in San Diego with an audience of about 500. Two dental assistants sitting in the front row were laughing and whispering to each other, and they had their hands about halfway up. So I said to them that obviously, they had an interesting story. So they explained that there was one older woman whose teeth they whitened, and she complained her teeth were “too” white, but then they laughed and said it was funny because this particular older woman patient was the ONE patient in their practice who always complained constantly about absolutely everything.

B. The only other incident was when I lectured across the pond in London. It was at the Royal College of Surgeons with an audience of about 400 dentists. When I asked the question, one dentist raised his hand. He was seated about halfway back in the audience, so I asked him to stand up and speak loudly so the entire audience could hear. He said he had a middle-aged male patient who was quite upset that his teeth had gotten too white. But then he laughed and said that a few days later, the patient returned to their office and was now thrilled with the whiteness and wanted to get some maintenance gel.

Sorry for the long explanation, but in a nutshell, whatever result is achieved with loose-fitting trays would have been far, or at least significantly, better if the trays had been sealed. And the most important thing is that patients who ask for teeth whitening almost unanimously are hoping for truly white teeth, and not just whiter teeth.

This is why one of the keys to KöR’s success is our proprietary KöR-Seal™ Whitening Trays. The unique design of these at-home trays effectively creates a seal at the cervical 1-1.25mm of the teeth, preventing the loss of whitening gels. The same seal is responsible for preventing the rapid, damaging ingress of both saliva and sulcular fluid.

The result…the most effective whitening result possible.

Very best,

Dr. Rod Kurthy