Aside from the drawbacks of the system, there are many advantages to this systems. There is only one system, to date, that is FDA approved. A new system was desired because many felt that home bleaching had reached it's maximum effectiveness and the in-office bleaching caused too much pain and inflammation. This is because the halogen and incandescent lights used for in-office bleaching emit yellow light that is absorbed by the pulp, resulting in pain. The solution to this problem was lasers.
Lasers can target stain molecules without harming the pulp.
The argon laser emits a visible blue light and the carbon dioxide laser emits an invisible infrared light. Hydrogen peroxide is the main ingredient. Hydrogen peroxide is broken down into water and a free oxygen radical which is essential for tooth whitening. The hydrogen peroxide is combined with a catalyst which the laser is responsive to. There is a rapid breakdown of the hydrogen peroxide to water and an oxygen radical.