The best teeth whiteners will make your teeth sparkle and give you a radiant smile. That’s more important than you may think, because according to scientific research, your smile is one of the first 3 things someone notices about you when meeting for the first time. Weather meeting for business or personal reasons, the first 30 seconds is when that other person forms a large part of their opinion about you.

Fair or unfair, that’s just a fact, so in order to make that great, first impression, it would be helpful to have a nice smile. One of the key components of a nice smile is white teeth. Having dingy, yellow teeth make your smile look dingy and yellow as well, and reflect poorly on your personal hygiene. There is no reason to have yellow teeth and a bad smile when you can whiten your teeth and have a fantastic grin.

The best teeth whiteners are these:

o Laser teeth whitening treatments – In most cases this procedure will be performed in your dentist’s office. Laser whitening treatments, such as LaserSmile (TM) are used in combination with a bleaching solution that’s applied during the procedure. The advantages are that they are very fast and effective. You’ll notice the results as you’re leaving your dentist’s office the first time. Because of the effective of the laser activated

o Light-based teeth whiteners – These function similar to a laser teeth whitening system, but instead of a laser, these systems use broader spectrum forms of light. Typically the light sources for these systems are an LED, gas plasma, or metal halide. Some of the more popular light based teeth whiteners are Rembrandt ®, BriteSmile ®, and the Zoom! (TM) Chairside Teeth Whitening System.

o Bleaching solution only teeth whiteners – These use no light or laser for curing, the teeth are just bathed in a hydrogen peroxide-based bleaching gel or solution. Typically the PH of the gel is around 6.5 – 7.5. A popular one of these is the NUPRO ® White Gold / Illumine (TM) professional teeth whitening system.

You can also elect to whiten your teeth at home if cost is an object (and it usually is, as some of the dentist solutions can cost over $1,000). The home systems are one of two varieties; bleach or micro-abrasive. As the name suggests, micro-abrasive treatments actually scrub the stain off the outer layer of your teeth with an abrasive compound. The in-home treatments are not as fast as professional treatments at a dentist, but are many quite effective. An additional benefit to visiting a dentist for whitening is that they may find other, more serious problems that you wouldn’t discover. One of the most popular in-home whitening solutions is Celebrity Sexy Teeth. It was even recommended by the TV channel E!.

Dingy, yellow teeth can be caused by many things, but one of the most serious is smoking cigarettes. Cigarette smoking is almost as effective at yellowing and staining your teeth as the whiteners are at fighting the problem. One thing to watch for is that many of these whitening systems cause at least some tooth sensitivity, and many can cause borderline pain for a time after the treatment. Be sure to ask your dentist about tooth sensitivity issues.

Quitting smoking is important to maintain the white teeth that you paid for. If you keep smoking, you’ll find that soon, you’ll need to have the procedures done again. Thanks to modern technology though, the best teeth whiteners will have no trouble combating your yellow teeth.