READ THIS BEFORE STARTINGDEEP BLEACHING PATIENT INSTRUCTIONSAt-Home Deep Bleaching trays will be worn for 14 consecutive nights. Bleaching of the teeth with at home trays is accomplished by wearing Deep Bleaching trays with AcquaBrite bleaching gel in them while you sleep. You have been given a bleaching kit. This kit will include two syringes of bleaching gel. When you are finished with the entire bleaching process, place any remaining bleaching gel syringes in the refrigerator to extend the shelf-life. You will start your bleaching immediately before sleep. If you usually lie in bed watching television before sleep, wait until you are ready to sleep before using your bleaching trays. This is when the saliva production slows down giving you better whitening results. Just before sleep, brush your teeth immediately prior to bleaching. On the first two nights of bleaching, use one AcquaSeal Benz swab each night as directed in our office to firmly rub into the outer surfaces of the teeth, with special emphasis near the gumline and on the biting edges of the front teeth. Spend at least a full minute rubbing the moistened swab into the teeth. After rubbing the swab into the teeth, try to keep your lips and cheeks away from the teeth for 30 seconds. Then rinse well with water. Inject bleaching gel into the bleaching trays (except in the very last molars) as was demonstrated in the dental office (make sure to attach the injection tip that it included with your kit to the syringe). It will twist into place. After injecting the gel into the tray insert the trays into your mouth. The gel is thick and the trays are flexible, so the gel will cause the outer rim of the tray to be pushed away from the gum line. After you put the tray in youll need to firmly push the tray back against the teeth to establish the seal of the tray at the gum line this is very important. We will demonstrate this also. If youve put too much gel in the tray youll notice a significant amount of gel oozing out from under the edge of the tray. Take a Q-Tip and remove the excess and next time use a little less gel. If youve put in too little gel, you will see through the clear tray some large open voids (little bubbles are OK) in the reservoirs not entirely filled with gel. If you see this, do NOT remove the tray. There is plenty of gel in the reservoirs to start your bleaching, but next time use a little more gel. If you put the appropriate amount of gel in the trays, when you push the trays back against your teeth, you should see just a little gel peek out from under the edge of the tray. In the morning, after removing the trays, rinse your mouth with luke-warm water. Cold or hot water may be slightly uncomfortable to rinse with at that time. Then brush your teeth. After brushing, apply the AcquaSeal Benz swab to your teeth again, following the same instructions used the night before. You will one use the AcquaSeal Benz swabs the first two nights of bleaching, however you will use the swabs each and every morning after bleaching. Clean the trays with Q-tips under COOL running water. WHAT TO EXPECTYou may expect some slight gum sensitivity from wearing the trays, and your teeth may feel very slightly sensitive. If you should feel more than slight sensitivity of the teeth or gums, please call our office. You may notice that your teeth start to look funny. They may develop white spots. The area of the teeth near the gum line may look dark (this is just because the rest of the tooth will have become so light by comparison). Or the color may look too opaque (chalky). Dont fear. This will all even-out during the final Deep Bleaching visit and the two weeks after you stop bleaching. You may find that your lower teeth do not lighten as quickly as your upper teeth. This is because the lower teeth are smaller, the enamel is thinner, and the reservoirs will be smaller. Again, do not fear. If there is a noticeable difference between the upper and lower teeth when bleaching is completed, we will recommend wearing the bleaching trays for another week on the lower teeth. PERMANENTLY MAINTAINING YOUR NEW WHITE TOOTH COLORYou should wear the bleaching trays while you sleep, at least one night every two months for protection against darkening. Wearing the trays one night every 2 months will keep your teeth a very stable color indefinitely, however if you want to keep them at an even brighter white indefinitely, you may wear the bleaching trays one night every month. Bleaching gel for maintenance is available at our office. To permanently set the color, we may recommend even more frequent wearing of the bleaching trays for 1-3 months after bleaching. Remember the goal of Deep Bleaching is to have white, bright teeth forever. More frequent maintenance in the beginning will get you to this goal. OTHER IMPORTANT BITS OF INFORMATIONDuring the two weeks of at-home bleaching, stay away from staining foods and drinks. Remember I mentioned the oxygen cleans out the pores of the teeth? We dont want stain to fill in these microscopic pores during bleaching. That would only reduce the success of bleaching. Any food or beverage which would permanently stain a white shirt or blouse could also stain your teeth. If possible, when drinking a staining beverage, it may help to keep the beverage off the outer surface of the teeth by carefully drinking through a straw. Smoking should also be held to the very minimum during the bleaching process. These precautions should be followed during the bleaching process and for at least one week after completion of bleaching. If possible, do not skip nights when bleaching. We find that this slows down the whitening process. Store your bleaching trays safely. Keep them in the case provided. Keep them away from heat heat will distort them. Dont leave them in the hot car. Dont put or wash them in warm or hot water. And keep them away from your dog. Dogs seem to think that bleaching trays are chew-toys. Most importantly, place the trays carefully in the case. When you shake the case, you should feel that the trays are loose in the case. If they are not, and they are being bent inside the case, this will distort and totally destroy the trays. We know you are going to be thrilled with your Deep Bleaching whitening result, but only if you are able to comply with the above instructions they are important. If you have any problems or questions, call us right away. PS DO NOT FORGET TO BRING YOUR DEEP BLEACHING TRAYS TO YOUR FINAL APPOINTMENT.  | 
