I've been using whitening toothpaste for 3 months now (Colgate Optic White brand), but my teeth haven't really changed. I'm wondering if it's just marketing or if there's a chemical reason why it doesn't work on me.
The thing is, whitening toothpastes have really low concentrations of active ingredients compared to professional treatments - they can polish away surface stains but they're not going to actually change your teeth's natural shade. After 3 months you should see something if it works for you, so either you've got stains that are deeply set in (like tannin buildup from years of coffee), or your genetics mean you naturally have more yellow teeth and no supermarket toothpaste is really going to change that. It's not pure marketing, but it's true that their promises go way beyond what they can actually deliver.
Whitening toothpastes are basically just tartar removal and polishing away surface stains - they contain doses that are way too weak to actually change your teeth's base color. If you really want to see a difference, you need to go for professional whitening at the dentist or at least whitening strips with higher peroxide concentration. Personally I tested several brands for months without much result, and a single professional session made all the difference.
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