Tooth Whitening Sensitivity? Here’s What We Tell Foreign Tourists Who Come to Our Dental Clinic for Whitening

Hello, we are Yonsei Yegam Dental Clinic at City Hall Station Exit 7, a 3-minute walk straight ahead (233m),

located directly across from the Samsung Main Building.

It is also conveniently located for visitors coming from Jongno, Euljiro, Gwanghwamun, Seodaemun Station, and Chungjeongno.

Our clinic is a kind of tooth-whitening mecca (?) where foreign tourists deliberately come to get whitening even while traveling.

Foreign patients, especially Westerners, are very interested in tooth whitening, so because we see many foreign patients, we perform a lot of whitening procedures.

But if you search online for tooth whitening,

Tooth whitening reviews (online search)

As shown in the screenshots above, you can often find posts saying it was unbearably sensitive and painful, that you should not do it, or that they regretted it.

Does tooth whitening really make your teeth sensitive?

At Yonsei Yegam Dental Clinic, which is known as a whitening destination, we will explain tooth whitening.

In the past, many dental clinics performed a lot of whitening without an examination,

and because whitening was offered at low prices, almost like dermatology clinics using Botox as a bait product to attract patients, there were cases where whitening was done without any examination.

Tooth whitening should be done only after an examination by the dentist at the clinic that will perform the whitening. Also, unlike a regular dental checkup, tooth whitening has specific areas that need to be checked carefully to prevent sensitivity!

[This varies by clinic; it is a kind of know-how.]

For people who receive whitening after being examined at our clinic, there are not many who experience significant sensitivity. We do not see patients who are so sensitive or in so much pain that they would write posts like the ones captured above online. Most people are satisfied, come back regularly for whitening,

and even foreign patients are satisfied enough to fly back[!] to Korea to visit us again for whitening. Would you like to see before-and-after photos of tooth whitening?

This is whitening that is completed on the same day.

[We only post photos with the patients’ consent.]

Most dental clinics simply do whitening by following the instructions on the leaflet, but

Yonsei Yegam Dental Clinic, which has been performing whitening for many foreign patients and prospective brides and grooms since opening in 2018, has know-how when it comes to tooth whitening.

• In 2013, before the product was even released, the director was invited to the main factory of Osstem, the company that manufactures the whitening agent and whitening device most widely used in Korea today, together with three colleagues from the same year. There, they observed a live demonstration and received explanations directly from the developer.

• We have a variety of tooth-whitening agents and whitening machines, and we test them ourselves, observe the results, and use the most effective products and devices.

Various tooth-whitening agents

Various tooth-whitening devices owned by Yonsei Yegam Dental Clinic

3. Rather than the large whitening machine of the past that forced patients to stay completely still under the device,

we use a necklace-style professional whitening device that is effective while still allowing the patient to move.

Patients can use their phones or move around during whitening, so the response has been very positive.

Whitening machine of the past vs. today’s necklace-style dental whitening device

4. Even without advertising or marketing overseas, this is a clinic that foreign patients find on their own in order to receive tooth whitening and various other dental treatments.

Many foreign patients have visited Yonsei Yegam Dental Clinic since we opened in 2018.

Yonsei Yegam Dental Clinic is also a clinic that foreign dentists come to visit.

We will tell you the 2026 tooth-whitening prices

2026 Yonsei Yegam Dental Clinic tooth whitening price/cost

☆Dental examination including panoramic X-ray (required to assess the tooth condition before whitening and prevent side effects):

Covered by national health insurance

(If you do not have Korean National Health Insurance, the examination for whitening is not covered and costs 15,000 KRW)

☆Option i) Whitening One-Day 3 sessions = treatment with 3 whitening sessions in one day: 330,000 KRW. Including 10% VAT: 363,000 KRW

☆Option ii) Whitening One-Day 2 sessions = treatment with 2 whitening sessions in one day: 270,000 KRW. Including 10% VAT: 297,000 KRW

• Tooth whitening is a treatment for which VAT is legally set, just like treatments at plastic surgery or dermatology clinics.

Sometimes places advertise whitening as one session, but that is only a bait product for other treatments. For same-day whitening, you need to do either 2 sessions or 3 sessions in one day to feel a noticeable effect. Most whitening product manufacturers recommend 3 sessions, and most dental clinics these days use One-Day 3 sessions as the standard. (One-Day 3 sessions: the whitening cycle runs three times in one day)

Time required for tooth whitening

Whitening is not a 30-minute dental treatment like other ordinary procedures. It takes a lot of time because it includes the examination, application of the gum-protection agent, application of the whitening agent, and light exposure. So an appointment is required. Especially at our clinic, the pre-treatment process for tooth whitening is special, complicated, and lengthy to maximize the effect, so

for One-Day 3 sessions, plan for about 1.5 to just under 2 hours,

for One-Day 2 sessions, plan for about 1 to 1.5 hours,

and it is best to make a reservation while considering the clinic treatment time.

(We do not offer One-Day 1 session.)

Caution: For 2 hours after whitening, eating is prohibited except for water, so please keep this in mind.

So far, this has been information directly provided by Yonsei Yegam Dental Clinic at City Hall Station in Seoul, a clinic that is also convenient for visitors coming from Euljiro, Myeongdong, Gwanghwamun, and Jongno, and even from overseas!

This was a post about tooth-whitening sensitivity, before-and-after photos, treatment time, and cost.

Yonsei Yegam Dental Clinic at City Hall Station is a Seoul Metropolitan Government medical tourism partner institution certified through a three-step review process by the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

​