Instead of taking a one-hour lunch break, some Americans may be using that time to take a trip to their local teeth-whitening spa. Teeth fanatics can throw away their whitening toothpastes and home bleaching kits, because teeth-whitening spas are opening across the country.

Thanks to magazine ads with glaringly white airbrushed teeth and movie stars like Matt Damon, with his charming smile and spotless white teeth, America seems to want to get in on the teeth whitening action.

Some dentists believe that this bleaching procedure has become the favorite esthetic procedure in the United States.

Brite Smile, one of the new teeth whitening spa lines opening, has more than 17 locations, all in high-retail traffic areas like malls and shopping centers.

Brite Smile provides customers a dentist-supervised whitening treatment that can whiten teeth to their ultimate whiteness in about an hour.

Although the procedure may seem simple enough and not very time-consuming, the price may cause some people to stop and think before casually stopping in a teeth spa to get their teeth “done.”

The average fee of $500 seems to be the going rate for the one-shot session that whitens teeth.

The procedure, described as painless by most customers, begins with a “before” picture of your teeth.

The whitening gel is applied three times over a one-hour period while a special gas-plasma light activates the hydrogen peroxide gel, bleaching the teeth.

After the three 20-minute applications, the whitening is completed, and the “after” picture is taken.

Once customers leave the teeth-whitening spa, there is nothing left for them to do. There are no take-home gel packets or special whitening equipment to take home.

With professional dental care, Brite Smile promises its customers that the whitening procedure can last for up to two years. However, some bleach “junkies” go to the spas for a teeth “fix” every three to six months.

The procedure is only offered to people 21 years and older, but Brite Smile is researching a special formula for teens that its researchers say should be available later this years, according to promises on the company’s web site.

Although some dentists claim that the bleaching procedures can actually leave teeth more sensitive and prone to staining, these warnings don’t seem to be stopping the craze for whiter-than-white teeth raging across the country.