The manufacturer recommends
that patients wear the whitening trays for 3
minutes per day for 2 weeks to achieve up to a 9
shade whitening change.
The dentists who participated in this product evaluation
dispensed the Sapphire Home Whitening kits to
patients in their practice. This system does require the
dentist to fabricate a whitening tray for each patient.
After the patients had used the kits for 2 weeks, the
dentists asked their patients to provide feedback.
Ease of Use
The 9 dentists who participated in this evaluation
were asked about the importance of ease of use when
purchasing a new home whitening system to dispense
to their patients. Six said ease of use is very
important and 3 said it is important.
When the dentists were asked to rate the ease of
use for Sapphire Professional Home Whitening, 8
rated it as excellent to good; 1 dentist rated it as fair.
One dentist commented that his patients said “the
whitening gel ‘keeps coming out of the end’ when first
dispensing a new tube, but my patients like the 3
minute use time.” Another evaluator said his patients
commented that the whitening gel is a bit runny.
Effectiveness
The manufacturer says that Sapphire Professional
Home Whitening can lighten teeth up to 9 shades in 2
weeks. When the evaluators were asked to rate the
product on effectiveness, 8 rated it as excellent to very
good and 1 rated it as fair. One evaluator said, “The
product was very effective, especially considering the
significantly reduced contact time.”
Packaging and Enclosed Instructions
Sapphire Professional Home Whiten -
ing comes with instructions for both the
dentist and the patient. The dentist
instructions describe the technique for
fabricating the whitening tray and
explain how the patient should use the
product at home. The patient receives
detailed instructions on how to dispense
the whitening gel into the tray,
how to insert the tray into his or her
mouth, and how long to wear the tray.
The evaluators were asked to rate the
Sapphire Professional Home Whitening
packaging and enclosed instructions.
Eight evaluators rated the packaging as
excellent to very good and 1 rated it as
good. Seven evaluators rated the
enclosed instructions as excellent to very
good and 2 rated them as good. One
evaluator said that the instructions are
“very clear and easy to read.”
Sensitivity
According to Den-Mat, Sapphire
Professional Home Whitening is formulated
to eliminate sensitivity. In a recent
clinical study, no patients complained of
whitening sensitivity when using this
product.1 When the evaluators were
asked to rate the product on sensitivity
(whether their patients reported experiencing
sensitivity), 6 rated it as excellent
to very good and 1 rated it as good. One
evaluator said his patients reported “no
tooth sensitivity.” Another evaluator said
that he only received reports of sensitivity
from patients who already have sensitivity
problems, “but due to the short duration
of bleaching, it was not a problem.”
Overall Satisfaction
When the evaluators were asked to
compare Sapphire Professional Home
Whitening with similar take-home
whitening systems offered by other manufacturers,
6 rated it as much or somewhat
better and 3 rated it as about the
same. They were then asked if they would
recommend Sapphire Professional Home
Whitening to their dental colleagues.
Eight of the evaluators said definitely or
probably and 1 said he wasn’t sure.
When the dentists who participated
in this evaluation were asked to give their
overall satisfaction rating for Sapphire
Professional Home Whitening, 8 rated it
as excellent to good and 1 rated it as fair.
One evaluator said, “Our patient compliance
was excellent. Even with typically
sensitive patients, due to the short
bleaching time, they had no problems.”
Reference
1 - Kim-Pusateri S, Ciancio SG, Bessinger M, et
al. 1080 clinical comparison of bleaching
effect on in-office to home bleaching. In:
AADR 37th annual meeting and exhibition;
2008 Mar 31-Apr 5; Dallas, TX.
Available from: http://iadr.confex.com/iadr/2008Dallas/techprogram/abstract_101006.htm
