Whitening lifts stains sitting on and just under the enamel. Tea, coffee, tobacco, turmeric-heavy food and simply age all dull teeth gradually, and that kind of staining responds well.
What does not respond the same way is discolouration coming from inside the tooth. An old root canal, certain childhood medications, or a dead nerve can darken a tooth from within, and bleaching gel will not correct it. That usually needs an internal whitening technique or a veneer instead.
So the appointment starts with an actual look at your teeth and gums, checking for cavities and sensitivity and working out where the staining is really coming from. If whitening is not going to give you what you are picturing, we will tell you before you spend anything on it.
When it is the right treatment, the process is a shade check, a clean if there is plaque in the way, then the whitening itself. The result holds longer if you are reasonable about tea, coffee and tobacco afterwards. Not abstinent, just reasonable.
