Comparative study of effects of home bleach and laser bleach using digital spectrophotometer: An in vitro study

BACKGROUND: With the increasing demand for teeth whitening, we have seen a trend in emergence of newer bleaching products. Patients often come to dentists to find a solution in order to address the stains in the oral cavity. Thus, this study was performed to give quality esthetic treatment to patients. AIM: The aim of this study was to compare if laser bleaching or 3-day home bleaching is effective for paan-stained and tea-stained teeth. MATERIALS AND METHODOLOGY: Forty extracted teeth were randomly divided (n = 20 each) into Group 1 laser bleaching and Group 2 for home bleaching and further subdivided into Group 1a and 2a for tea stains and Group 1b and 2b for paan stains. The shade was evaluated with digital spectrophotometer. Pola Office + was applied on tooth and activated using the diode laser for Group 1. The bleaching was carried out with Zoom Nitewhite for Group 2. The second color measurement of the specimens was made. STATISTICAL TEST: ANOVA with Tukey's post hoc analysis was done. RESULTS: 1. The test results demonstrated that there was no statistically significant difference in shade change on comparing Groups 1a and 2a (laser and home and tea stains). 2. The test results demonstrated that there was a statistically significant difference in shade change on comparing both the groups; Groups 1b and 2b (laser and home and paan stains) and Group 2b showed a lesser change in shade compared to Group 1b (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Laser bleaching was effective when compared to 3-day home bleach for paan-stained teeth, whereas for tea-stained teeth, both treatments showed similar results.