Start with a consultation so we can check your teeth and gums are ready for it.

Tea, coffee, red wine and tobacco all stain, and enamel thins with age so the yellower dentine beneath starts to show through. Whitening reverses a good deal of that, safely and without touching the tooth structure itself.

A peroxide gel breaks down the staining compounds that have accumulated within the enamel. Nothing is removed and nothing is added — the tooth simply goes back towards the shade it started at.

In the UK it is illegal for anyone other than a dental professional to carry this out, and there is good reason for that: the products sold online are either too weak to work or strong enough to burn your gums.

• Trays cast from your teeth, so the gel stays on the tooth and off the gum
• Professional-strength gel, supplied by us
• Worn for a set period each day across two to four weeks
• Gradual, which means an even result and far less sensitivity

• Done in the chair, in one visit
• Useful when there is a date to work towards
• Often paired with trays to hold the result
• Slightly more sensitivity than the gradual route

Most people end up several shades lighter. How far it goes depends on where you started and what caused the staining — greyish discolouration responds less well than yellowing.

One thing worth knowing before you start: whitening only works on natural tooth. Crowns, veneers and white fillings stay exactly the shade they are, so if you have work at the front we will plan the order carefully, whitening first and matching the restorations afterwards.

Expect one to three years before you want a top-up, depending largely on how much coffee is involved.

Yes, done properly. We check first that your teeth and gums are healthy — whitening over decay or active gum disease is a genuinely bad idea, which is one reason the online kits cause trouble.

Some sensitivity during the course is common and settles within a few days of finishing. If it bothers you, we can slow the process down or switch to a lower concentration.

Whitening is a private treatment.