Clinical Comparison of Bleaching Effect of In-Office to Home Bleaching

Objective: To compare effectiveness of chairside to home bleaching. Methods: 96 teeth in 24 subjects were evaluated. Maxillary incisors with baseline shade >B65(Trubyte) were included. Subjects randomly assigned to groups receiving either chairside or home treatment (Sapphire Chairside System, 25% Hydrogen Peroxide), (Sapphire Take-Home Kits, 32% Carbamide Peroxide). Two 30 minute applications performed either with the Sapphire light (Group 1) or without light (Group 2). Variables evaluated at baseline, immediate and one week post-treatment were: tooth shade, gingival index, plaque index, tooth sensitivity. Groups 3A and 3B were given Take-Home Kits to use daily for 1 month. Group 3A bleached 3 minutes daily and Group 3B 15 minutes daily. Same variables were evaluated at baseline, one, two and, four weeks. L*a*b* values were measured with a colorimeter (ShadeVision, X-Rite) and deltaE values calculated. Data analyzed using pairwise t-test and Wilcoxon ranked-sum test. Results: There were significant improvements from baseline gingival index, plaque index (p<0.05), no occurrence of sensitivity (p>0.05). In-office bleaching produced shade changes approximately 8 shades without the Sapphire light and 12 with the Sapphire light. The home bleaching resulted in 9 shade changes when used 3 minutes daily and 12 shades when used 15 minutes daily for 4 weeks. After 2 weeks of use there was no difference in shade between the groups - both improved by approximately 9 shades. The average deltaE values for each group were 4.62 (Group 1), 3.42 (Group 2), 2.78 (Group 3A), and 4.28(Group 3B). Conclusion: Plasma arc light for 1 hour with in-office bleaching improved results by 3 shades better compared to no light. One hour in-office bleaching with plasma arc light gave results which took 4 weeks to obtain by daily use of home bleaching. No adverse effects on oral tissues found. Supported in part by grant from DenMat Corp.