Using a proprietary light-activated whitening gel, BriteSmile offers an effective new procedure that offers a simple, fast, and safe way to give people whiter teeth. After entering one of BriteSmile's highly professional centers and undergoing a screening, the customer is seated in a dental chair. The dentist then applies whitening gel to the patient's teeth along with isolation material to protect the mouth and gums. The dentist positions the BriteSmile 2000's light bar in front of the patient's mouth and illuminates the teeth for 20 minutes. This procedure repeats for three applications and the whitening effect is immediate.

The design challenge for IDEO involved bringing light from two large sources located in a cabinet to a movable arm that is placed the front of the customer's mouth, while conveying a feeling of comfort, safety, and high-tech competence. With their centers located in retail environments, BriteSmile wanted to avoid the threatening connotations of a dental office. The resulting device is comfortable for the customer and easy to use by both left- and right-handed operators. To ensure a high level of quality control, the positioning mechanism had to be accurate and repeatable. The team also designed the illumination pattern to encompass the front 16 teeth (8 upper and 8 lower) within a prescribed level of uniformity. All other whitening light sources on the market can only do one tooth at a time.