Custom trays are thin, flexible trays moulded to the exact shape of your teeth. You wear them at home with professional gel, and because they fit only you, the gel sits where it should and nowhere else.
I’ll be straight with you: trays are wonderful after laser whitening. On their own, they’re a long road.
If you start from scratch with trays alone, you’re looking at sixty to ninety minutes a day, and a minimum of three weeks before you see much change at all.
Most people don’t stay the course. Life gets busy, the trays end up in a drawer by week two, and nobody gets what they hoped for.
Laser whitening does in one sixty-five minute appointment what trays spend weeks working towards — most clients see between ten and fourteen shades on the day. The trays then hold you there, which is the thing they are genuinely brilliant at.
I’d rather tell you that now than take $285 and watch you lose heart in the third week.
A pharmacy kit gives you one tray shape and hopes your mouth is close enough. The gel pools in some places, misses others, and leaks onto your gums.
A custom tray hugs every tooth. The gel sits evenly, right to the edges, and stays off the soft tissue — which is where most of the discomfort people describe with shop-bought kits comes from.
Because the fit is exact you also use less gel, and the result is far more predictable. No patchy bits, no tooth that came out lighter than the one beside it.
If you’re prone to sensitivity, there are things that genuinely help and I’ll talk you through them at your appointment. There’s more on the sensitive teeth page.
Your impressions are taken here in the studio and sent to a New Zealand dental laboratory — the same lab that makes trays for dental practices, from the same materials.
There is no lesser version. What you get is what a practice would hand you.
Clients commonly tell me they’ve been quoted around $600 for the same thing. If you’re weighing that up, I’ve written about it properly on the trays and dentists page.
Custom trays with laser whitening — $170, a saving of $115. Laser is $260, so both together come to $430. This is the one I recommend.
Custom trays on their own — $285, including your professional gel.
Gel top-up, one syringe — $45.
Gel top-up, two syringes — $70.
No consultation fee, and nothing that grows at the counter. See full pricing.
1 · Your impression appointmentFifteen to twenty minutes, here at the studio. Quicker and far less unpleasant than most people expect.
2 · The lab makes your traysUsually one to two weeks.
3 · You collect themWe check they sit properly and I show you exactly how to use them, and how to look after them.
That’s the commitment, and it’s worth knowing before you start. Over a full course most people see six to eight shades of change.
After laser, that’s a top-up you’ll barely think about — a couple of nights before something that matters, and you’re back where you were.
From scratch, it’s a minimum of three weeks before you see much at all, and months to reach where the laser takes you in an hour.
The trays themselves last years. Only the gel needs replacing, and that’s $45 a syringe.
This is what I recommend to almost everyone, and it’s what nearly all of my happiest clients have done.
The laser does the heavy lifting in a single appointment. The trays keep you there, on your own terms, for years — for the cost of a gel syringe now and then.
$430 for both, booked together.
Can I just have trays, without the laser?You can, and I’ll make them for you. But I’ll tell you honestly what it involves first, because I’d rather you succeeded than simply bought something.
How long before I get them?Usually one to two weeks from your impression appointment.
How long do the trays last?Several years with reasonable care. Rinse them, dry them, keep them in their case.
Will they work on crowns or veneers?Whitening doesn’t change the colour of dental work — which is why the order you do things in matters.
More on the full FAQ page.
Appointments generally Tuesday–Saturday · By appointment only
Need another day? Just ask — I’ll always do my best to accommodate you.
Questions? Call or text 021 630 907