“Dad, I need my teeth whiter. Dad, I need my teeth whiter.”
Jaleena was persistent. She would cut tooth whitening advertisements out of dental journals and leave hand-written reminders on her dad’s nightstand. As Dr. Fischer’s 14-year-old daughter, Jaleena was determined to keep her dad's attention focused on developing what would later be known as Opalescence.
“Be patient, love. I’m working on something,” Dr. Fischer would say.
In Ultradent’s R&D department, Dr. Fischer worked tirelessly to get his whitening product just the way he wanted it. He knew it needed to have a sticky, viscous composition to keep the gel in place and to prevent it from leaching out of the tray onto the soft tissue. It needed to provide sustained peroxide release for superior whitening results. And it needed to be delivered via a soft, thin scalloped tray with reservoirs to ensure the maximum amount of gel stays in contact with the teeth during the entire treatment.
One night in 1990, after Dr. Fischer was finally satisfied with the whitening gel he and his team had come up with, he took it home to Jaleena. He had her load the new Opalescence gel in the tray before bed and asked her to wear it throughout the night. “When you wake up in the morning,” he said, “don’t take the tray out. Come find me, and we’ll take it out together.” The next morning, Jaleena and her dad took the tray out. After just one night, she had gone from an A3 to an A1.
It’s been over 25 years since that eventful morning for Jaleena and her dad. In that time, Opalescence has gone from one sticky, viscous 10% carbamide peroxide formula to a full menu of whitening products. Now the world leader in whitening, Opalescence has helped millions of people brighten their smiles, giving them more confidence and improving their quality of life. And it can do the same for your patients!
