KöR® Whitening System: Effective, Science-Based Tooth Whitening
Compendium features peer-reviewed articles and continued education opportunities on restorative techniques, clinical insights, and dental innovations, offering essential knowledge for dental professionals.
March 1, 2013
Volume 34, Issue 3, March 2013
Page(s): pp 226
For most of his career, Rod Kurthy, DMD, the developer of the KöR® Whitening System, was dissatisfied with the results of in-office whitening procedures performed on his patients. “They never worked as well as I hoped they would, and my staff and I always felt like we were letting our patients down,” he muses.
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The KöR Whitening System is unique in that it is a full and complete system. “It’s a very specific technique with products developed with the precise physical and chemical properties necessary for that technique,” says Kurthy. He explains that the chemistry behind tooth whitening greatly affects the way the KöR Whitening System works, and it was chemistry that influenced many of Kurthy’s decisions during development. He specifically points out three scientific characteristics that differentiate KöR from other whitening systems on the market.
The first is that the peroxide whitening gels used by KöR do not include any chemical stabilizers; instead, the gel is kept cold until it is placed in the patient’s mouth. “Since the gel used in the KöR Whitening System is refrigerated immediately upon manufacture and kept cold continuously until received cold by dental practices, there is no need for chemical stabilizers, as refrigeration keeps the peroxide stable,” Kurthy explains. Once the gel is placed in the patient’s warm mouth, it becomes highly unstable, thus leading to faster, more effective whitening. The lack of chemical stabilizers, he adds, reduces osmolarity of the gel by as much as 11 times, greatly reducing patient sensitivity. This approach also results in a longer product shelf-life.
The second characteristic is the tray design in the KöR Whitening System. “The KöR-Seal™ Trays seal the whitening gel in the tray, protecting it from the destructive effects of the enzymes in saliva and sulcular fluid,” says Kurthy. This makes KöR’s whitening gel aggressively effective for up to 6 hours, with some whitening activity occurring for as long as 10 hours. This, he notes, is a vast improvement compared to gel in open trays, which has been shown to be aggressively effective for only about 20 to 30 minutes.
The third differentiator is the KöR Whitening System’s Tri-Barrel™ syringe delivery system, which keeps the chemical components of the whitening gel separated into three separate containers instead of two containers of a dual-barrel syringe. Having three separate barrels allows much greater complexity of the whitening gel formula, enabling more intense whitening capability.
Kurthy has assembled an entire team of KöR Clinical and Marketing Specialists who are specifically trained to answer questions about the system. “Every customer is assigned a Clinical and Marketing Specialist when they make their first purchase. I want them to think of that person as their own personal concierge at KöR who can help them with literally anything regarding the whitening system, including how to market it and present it to patients,” says Kurthy. “If the dentist or staff member has a question the Clinical and Marketing Specialist can’t answer, the Specialist comes to me and we all develop a solution together.”
Looking forward, Kurthy is eager to continue to expand KöR Whitening, and is currently involved in ongoing research in the future of tooth whitening, particularly regarding sensitivity. “I’ve been a dental researcher for 37 years—36 of which have been involved in whitening research,” he says. “I am proud to be developing and manufacturing products that are really good for my customers and their patients.”
KöR Whitening
5 Vanderbilt, Irvine, CA 92618
866-763-7753
dentalaegis.com/go/cced344
