Enhancing the appearance of our exteriors can be really costly. As with teeth whitening, it can cost anywhere between $400-$900 per session, not only that, a complete whitening treatment requires about at least three sessions or about $1200-$2700 all in all! Teeth whitening cost also varies depending on many factors like the credentials of the dentist who performs the procedure, the location of the dental office and the equipments used by the dentist. Moreover, because some dentists often recommend the use of pre-dispensed whiteners at home as a routine follow-up of the whitening treatment, additional costs are also expected. Nonetheless, although the extent of “whiteness” that in-office treatments can give to you may be close the results provided by effective and over-the-counter tray-based teeth whitening systems, many people still prefer to spend on professional teeth whitening treatments because of the immediate results that it can provide.
Spending on Dental Dehydration
In “teeth language”, dehydration means lightening of shade. Although the term still means the same (that is, the loss of moisture) the effect is very different. When teeth become dry it tends to become lighter in shade. Dentists utilize this characteristic and use exposes bleached teeth to low grade laser for thirty to sixty minutes. Dehydration laser is produced by expensive machines so dentists have to add an extra charge for the use of this machine.
After the dehydration, the teeth will be exposed to moisture again (saliva, water, food, etc) and begin to dehydrate. As the teeth regain moisture, it also returns to its normal shade. In three to seven days, the re-hydration process completes and this is the only time that you will be able to assess how much your teeth have improved in terms of “lightness” shade. 
This means that you should not allow yourself to be deceived by other pretentious dentists (there are many out there) that the amount of “whiteness” that you have seen in your teeth right after the treatment is the actual result. This is not to say that laser treatments are not effective because they are, what is implied here is that you base your satisfaction on the treatment done by a specific dentist based on the “whiteness” that remains in your teeth after a couple of days, after all, laser exposure increases the whitening capability of the bleaching solution that your dentist used on your teeth. The cost of the teeth whitening treatment that you have opted for will be justified if you remain to be satisfied with the results of the treatment even after the whole re-hydration process is completed.
Why Spend on Home Whiteners After a Professional Treatment?
This question is often raised by people who have just been told that after paying for the professional teeth whitening session that they have had, they have to pay an extra amount for the teeth whitening system prepared for them by their dentist. Follow up at-home whitening is not actually a ridiculous idea and it does not imply that the professional whitening treatment is ineffective. Dentists require at-home treatments for two main reasons: (1) The “whiteness” that you see as a result of the professional whitening treatment may just be caused by the dehydration effect of the teeth and to maintain that level of “whiteness” you have to perform the follow-up at-home whitening procedures, and (2) Since it takes about three to six sessions before a patient can be truly happy with the results of the whitening treatment, it is important that the patient is dispensed a teeth whitener so that he or she can maintain the level of whiteness of her or his teeth while waiting for the next session.
Concluding Remarks
In the end, the money that you have to spend in whitening your teeth can only be justified if you are happy with the result the treatment. Always give value to your money and only opt for whitening methods that are sure to provide you with real and visible results. You might want to conduct a little research and solicit for feedbacks from other patients who have undergone teeth whitening procedures with specific dentists. Reading blogs and related websites like this one will also be helpful.
