Whitening, tallied tab by tab
Every way to whiten your teeth, held up against the shade guide
Strips, trays, pens, purple correctors and the dentist's chair: what each one contains, what the law allows where you live, what it costs per go, and when to skip it. Information only, read against regulators' and sellers' own pages on 22 September 2026.
Four routes, from the chair to the tint
Pick the route first; the product comes second.
In the chair
The fastest route, and the only one where a dentist controls the gel from start to finish.
Trays from a dentist
An examination first, trays shaped to your teeth, and weeks of wear at home. Ranked first; pays us nothing.
Strips and kits
The slow, inexpensive route. What the trials show, and why few sellers print their strength.
Purple correctors
A tint, not a treatment, by the sellers' own description. Useful for an evening, gone by the next.
What Shade Tally does
Shade Tally compares teeth whitening methods on things you can check: the active ingredient a seller names, the strength it publishes or leaves out, the course printed on the box, and the rules that apply where you live. We read every figure on the regulator's or seller's own page and date it.
We do not test products on people, publish before-and-after photos, or quote "shades whiter" numbers. Those numbers come from sellers' own studies, and printing one here would make it look like ours.
Where we start
We start with the answer that pays us nothing. For many people with surface staining from coffee, tea or tobacco, a professional clean and an ordinary toothpaste do more than they expect, and anyone with crowns or veneers at the front should know that whitening will not change their colour. Beyond that, a dentist's examination is the best first step for anyone with sensitive teeth or gum problems.
When a kit is the right answer, our ranking of whitening kits puts dentist-supplied trays first and shows which sellers disclose their strength. When you are weighing the chair against a box, our dentist-versus-home comparison sets out what the extra money buys.
Why the rules come first
The same kit can be an ordinary shop product in one country and restricted in another. In the UK and EU, a whitening product sold over the counter may contain no more than 0.1% hydrogen peroxide, while some US products publish strengths of 6% to 15%. Our guide to peroxide limits by country quotes each rule from the regulator's own text.
The guides
Each one answers a single question, with its sources dated.
How Long Does Teeth Whitening Last? By Method, With a Touch-Up Plan
Studies and health services put whitening results at roughly one to three years, longer in some trials, but every number has a source.
Natural Teeth Whitening: Baking Soda, Oil Pulling, Charcoal and Peroxide Rinses, Checked
Kitchen remedies can shift some surface stain at best. None changes the tooth's own colour, and the acidic ones can cost you enamel.
How Much Is Professional Teeth Whitening? In-Chair vs Take-Home Trays
US insurers' own data put in-office whitening at $40 to $700 per visit on average; Humana's put external-stain whitening at about $303 per arch. Nobody publishes a figure for take-home trays. What those numbers include, and how to get a real quote.
Teeth Whitening Pens — Do They Work, and How Do They Compare to Strips?
A whitening pen paints a thin layer of gel onto your teeth for a short time. The research on paint-on gels is thin, the contact time is short, and few pens say how strong they are. Here is how to judge one.
Whitening Toothpaste — What It Can and Can't Do for Your Teeth
Whitening toothpaste mostly polishes surface stains away; it does not change the colour inside the tooth. That makes it useful for coffee and tea stains, and the wrong tool for yellowing with age.
Hydrogen Peroxide Teeth Whitening Limits by Country — the 0.1% and 6% Rules
In the UK and EU, a whitening product you can buy over the counter may contain no more than 0.1% hydrogen peroxide; up to 6% only through a dentist; above that, not as a cosmetic. The US and Canada do it differently. Every rule here links to its source, dated.