Dental bleaching system and method

A method of dispensing a bleaching composition directly upon a tooth or teeth to be bleached comprising the steps of formulating a first component comprising hydrogen peroxide and a second component consisting essentially of a gelling agent, a pH alkaline buffer, a catalyst and a color indicator to provide a distinct visible color to the naked eye when the bleaching treatment may be terminated, placing each component in a capsule having two compartments separated by a membrane so that each component is isolated from each other, depressing a movable element in the capsule for breaking the membrane separating the compartments so that the components come into contact with one another, placing the capsule in a dental amalgamator to intermix the first and second components into a viscous gel consistency and placing the capsule in a dispensing syringe for dispensing the viscous gel directly onto the tooth or teeth to be bleached wherein said color indicator consists essentially of a redox color indicator adapted to oxidize in the presence of a peroxide from a visible color into a neutralized color and a second dye stable in the presence of a peroxide with the concentration of the redox color indicator selected relative to the second dye such that the redox color will be predominant during the bleaching operation and the second dye will be predominant at the end of a controlled time period corresponding to when the bleaching treatment may be discontinued.

A method of automatically dispensing a bleaching composition directly upon a tooth or teeth to be bleached from a dual compartment dispensing syringe comprising the steps of formulating a first component consisting essentially of hydrogen peroxide and fumed silica in a viscous gel consistency and a second component consisting essentially of a silica gelling agent, an alkanolamine, a catalyst and a color indicator to provide a distinct visible color to the naked eye when the bleaching treatment has effectively terminated, said color indicator consisting essentially of a redox color indicator adapted to oxidize in the presence of a peroxide from a visible color into a neutralized color and a second dye stable in the presence of a peroxide with the concentration of the redox color indicator selected relative to the second dye such that the redox color will be predominant during the bleaching operation and the second dye will be predominant at the end of a controlled time period corresponding to when the bleaching treatment may be discontinued and with the second component concentration selected to form a gel consistency, placing each component in a separate compartment of a dual compartment dispensing syringe so that each component is isolated from each other, attaching a static mixer to the discharge end of the dispensing syringe, depressing each compartment of the dual compartment dispensing syringe so that the components are discharged simultaneously through the static mixer to cause the first and second components to intermix automatically from the dispensing syringe as it is dispensed directly onto the tooth or teeth to be bleached.