Question for a Dentist about the cost of Whitening Teeth / 10 pts?

Think about this long and hard. A cell phone that fits into the palm of your hand....you can call people with them....take pictures....store pictures and data....and for god sake even browse the internet. 30 years ago no one would have imagined such an incredible thing. Technoligy is amazing. OK GETTING TO THE POINT....you can buy these cell phones sometimes for less than $100. If you think about it that is amazing....SO ON TO MY QUESTION.... Why is it that there is NO DENTIST who can just whiten someones teeth for less than $300? Wtf......THAT IS PATHETIC!
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Some people have very good success with over the counter bleaching. It is affordable, $50, it is convenient (at home). The strength of over the counter bleaching material is about 1/2 of what is used in dental offices, so it costs half as much, you must buy twice the number of at home bleaching kits, so you end up spending much more than the initial price on the one box. Here's what a dentist will do when you come it to bleach: 1) diagnose any existing oral disease. (some people have tooth staining which cannot be removed through bleaching, it may need micro abraision, internal bleaching, veneers/crown, many people think they need bleaching when they really just need a professional cleaning). so you may spend $100's of dollars on over the counter bleaching before finding out that you were wasting your money. 2) developing comprehensive treatment plan (including esthetics and bleaching treatments) 3) making custom bleaching trays (this requires an assistant to take and impression, pour up stone models, then a lab technitian uses models to make a custom bleaching tray which fits your mouth perfectly). The custom tray fits more accurately around teeth which reduces amount of bleaching material which may leak out and irritate gums (burning gums). The custom tray also allows for a more even distribution of the bleaching material which gives a more uniform whitening result (spotty or non-uniform bleaching results is a common complaint with over the counter bleaching trays because they do not have a custom fit). 4) Follow up with dentist to determine effectiveness of bleaching treatments. At follow ups the dentists may change how frequently you bleach, the bleaching product used, deal with sensitivity issues, and identify problem areas. 5) dentist can treat problem areas (areas with do not bleach uniformly due to hypocalcification, fluorosis, or deep staining) to provide a beautiful final result.
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