Teeth whitening at Widney Dental in Knowle comes three ways, each with one plain figure: trays made to your teeth and worn at home for £275, the plasma light in the chair for £475, or the two together for £650. And here’s the lovely part: choose the light, and you see the change before you walk out of the door.
How much does teeth whitening cost in Knowle?
By now you’ve probably seen whitening priced every way there is: toothpaste for a few pounds, strips for tens of pounds, and “laser” offers somewhere up in the hundreds. It’s hard to tell what any of those numbers actually buys you. So here are ours, side by side.
| The way | What you get | How long it takes | Who it suits | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trays at home | Trays made to fit your teeth, the gel, and the routine written down | About two weeks, at home | Most people: a shade that builds day by day | £275 |
| The plasma light | Your gums protected, the gel applied, and the light working on it in the chair | One sitting in the surgery | A date coming up, or anyone who’d rather not wear trays | £475 |
| Both together | The light first, then trays to carry the shade further | One sitting, then the trays at home | The quick start, carried further | £650 |
Each of those is the figure in our full fee guide, and the check-up that comes before any of them is priced on its own, which we’ll come to in a moment.
Now, the trays. They’re made to fit your teeth exactly, so the gel sits on the enamel and stays off your gums. You take them home with the routine written down and wear them for about two weeks. The shade builds day by day, and most people see the change within the first week. Then, when the course is done, you keep them. That matters more than it sounds, because a top-up later on brings the colour back without starting again.
The plasma light works the other way round. Everything happens in one sitting in the chair: your gums are protected, the gel goes on, and the light works on it while you sit back. You see the change before you leave. It suits a date on the calendar, or anyone who’d simply rather not wear trays at all.
And the combination does both, in that order. The light gives you the quick start in the surgery, and the trays carry the shade further at home afterwards.
Trays, the light or both: how do you choose?
Well, the choice comes down to your diary as much as your teeth. All three use dentist-strength gel on your own enamel; what changes is how quickly you see it, and where you spend the time.
Happy with two easy weeks at home? That’s the trays. Want to walk out lighter today? That’s the light. Want the quick start and the trays for later? That’s both. And you’re never left guessing on your own, because your dentist says which suits your teeth and your diary at the check-up. Whichever you pick, some people feel a sharp, short twinge in a tooth or two while they’re whitening, especially with cold, and it passes when the course ends.
Why does a check-up come first, and what does it cost?
Every one of the three starts in the same place. Your teeth and gums are examined, your starting shade is recorded, and anything that needs treating first is found. For a new patient that examination is £75; if you’re already with us, it’s £45; and for NHS patients the check-up is the Band 1 charge of £27.90. It’s priced on its own, separate from the whitening figure, so you always know which is which. Here’s what a check-up at Widney Dental covers.
Why bother with it? Because whitening gel is strong stuff, and it would aggravate decay or gum disease if either were there. So those are treated first, and the whitening follows when your teeth are ready for it.
There’s a happier reason too. Your starting shade is written down at the beginning, and your new shade is checked against it at the end, so you see the difference for yourself, instead of squinting at the bathroom mirror and wondering.
Why does a dentist’s whitening cost more than a shop kit?
Here’s the question behind all those different prices, and the answer is pleasingly simple. It comes down to two things: how strong the gel is, and whether anyone has looked at your teeth first.
You see, whitening gel is a peroxide. It passes into the enamel and breaks up the coloured molecules inside it, so the tooth itself becomes lighter. Think of a tea-stained cotton tablecloth. Scrubbing the top lifts whatever is sitting on it, and only something that soaks into the weave reaches the colour inside. A dentist can use gel strong enough to soak in like that. Shop kits and toothpastes are limited by law to strengths that polish the surface.
So the strong gel lives at the dentist’s, by law. In the UK, whitening is a dental treatment: only a dentist, or a hygienist or therapist on a dentist’s prescription, may legally use gel at the strengths that change the colour of a tooth. nhs.uk puts it plainly: “Using a kit from a dentist, or having it done at a dental surgery, is the safest way to have teeth whitening.”
Now, the shop products have their own place. A whitening toothpaste costs a few pounds and polishes surface stain, perhaps a shade or so over months. Strips and shop kits cost tens of pounds and use a low-strength gel, which suits very mild staining on healthy teeth. And here’s their real gift: once you have a lighter shade, a whitening toothpaste is a lovely way to keep it. So the shop shelf and the dentist’s chair end up on the same side.
Is the plasma light the same as laser teeth whitening?
“Laser whitening” is a name you’ll see everywhere, and it describes the in-chair kind: gel on the teeth, and a light shone on it in the surgery. nhs.uk describes it that way too: “Teeth whitening at a dental surgery involves covering your teeth in a whitening gel then shining a laser onto them.”
Our in-chair way uses a plasma light, and the idea is the same. Your gums are protected, the gel is applied, and the light works on it in the chair, all in one sitting. The gel is what lightens the enamel; the light helps it work faster, and you see the change before you leave. So if you came here looking for laser whitening prices, the plasma light at £475 is the one you’re after.
Can you get teeth whitening on the NHS?
Whitening is cosmetic, so it’s private everywhere in England, and that’s true for NHS and private patients alike. In the words of nhs.uk: “It’s not available on the NHS, so you have to pay for it privately.”
Widney Dental sees NHS patients as well as private ones, and the whitening itself is a private fee for everyone. If you’re an NHS patient with us, your check-up is the Band 1 charge, and then you have exactly the same three ways and the same three figures as anyone else.
Can yellow teeth really go white again?
Here’s the good news: yellow is precisely what whitening lightens. Teeth that have darkened with age are one of the most common reasons people ask. Staining from tea, coffee, red wine and tobacco lightens too, once a clean has taken the surface layer off. And that yellow or grey cast that no toothpaste ever shifted? That’s whitening’s home ground, because the gel goes into the enamel where the colour actually lives. The aim is a natural white for your teeth, rather than one flat colour painted over everything.
There are a few honest edges. Whitening changes your own enamel, so it doesn’t change anything a dentist has made: crowns, veneers, fillings and bonding all keep their colour. If you have any of those at the front, the whitening is planned around them, or they’re replaced afterwards to match your new shade. That’s why whitening comes before new work at the front, never after. Deep grey banding from childhood antibiotics lightens, though less, and your dentist will tell you so at the check-up. And whitening isn’t done for under-18s, which the law doesn’t permit except for a medical reason.
Would a clean do the job on its own?
Sometimes, and it’s worth knowing before you choose. A hygienist visit at £64 is a scale and polish, and it lifts the surface stain. Stubborn staining from tea, coffee or smoking can also be lifted with Airflow, a jet of fine powder and water, at £91.50. If what bothered you was mostly that surface layer, the clean may give you the change you were after. If your teeth have darkened in the enamel itself, the clean clears the way and the whitening does the rest.
How long will your new shade last?
For most people, years, with a clean at each check-up and the occasional top-up in the same trays. Our post on how long teeth whitening lasts goes through keeping the new shade, from the first days to the top-ups.
So, is it worth the money?
Think about what sent you searching. Maybe a photo where your teeth were the first thing you noticed. What you’re really after is your own teeth, lighter, so you can stop thinking about them.
For teeth that have darkened with age or gathered years of stain, dentist whitening reaches the colour inside the enamel, where a toothpaste can’t. If trays are part of your plan, you keep them, so the shade can be topped up later without starting over. And everything is checked by a dentist first, so it’s done on healthy teeth and gums. If it turns out a clean is all you need, the check-up tells you that too.
Everything about how it runs, from the check-up to the result, is on our teeth whitening page. We’re at 76 Widney Road in Knowle, open Monday to Thursday 8.30am to 6pm and Friday 8.30am to 5pm, rated 4.8 from 175 Google reviews. Call 01564 773080 or book online, and the whitening follows when your teeth are ready for it.
