Compare actual South Korean in-office, dentist-supervised home, and retail whitening budgets over 1, 3, and 5 years, including repeat sessions, gel refills, tray replacement, product repurchases, sensitivity care, indirect cost, peak monthly cash, and present value.
All money fields start at KRW 0. Enter scope-aligned final quotes and only the repeat cycles you actually want to budget.
The fictional-example button loads values that demonstrate the math. They are not Korean averages or recommended maintenance intervals.
Every cost is zero, so a cost ranking would be misleading. Start with confirmed amounts.
A headline price usually covers one in-office session or one retail box, while the household budget may also include extra sessions, a custom tray, gel refills, product repurchases, travel, time, and a separate sensitivity-care allowance.
A path repeated every six months can have a very different three- or five-year cost from a path repeated every eighteen months, even when the first payment looks similar.
This calculator places in-office professional whitening, dentist-supervised home whitening, and over-the-counter home products on the same 1-, 3-, and 5-year KRW timeline.
The lowest cost path is not necessarily the path that whitens more, lasts longer, or is suitable for your mouth.
A dentist must assess the cause of discoloration, decay, gum condition, crowns, veneers, composite restorations, implants, past sensitivity, allergies, and other contraindications.
Use the result as a missing-cost checklist before a dental consultation, not as a treatment-selection score.
Enter the exam cost and the final per-session quote for the same natural-tooth scope.
Separate sessions in the first course from already-planned additional sessions, then budget recurring maintenance sessions and indirect cost at your chosen interval.
Combine the exam, custom tray, and initial gel as the first direct cost.
Gel refills and tray replacement use separate cycles, so a long comparison does not hide later remaking or supply cost.
Enter an actual pre-use dental check, first purchase, repurchase, delivery, and time budget.
The calculator does not recommend a product, ingredient, concentration, or use duration and accepts only the purchase plan whose formal label and directions you checked.
The tooth count is a scope note, not a price multiplier.
Korean providers and products may quote per tooth, arch, session, package, tray, or kit, so every money field expects the actual final amount for the selected scope.
| Input group | Align this scope | Often-missed cost |
|---|---|---|
| Initial in-office course | Exam, teeth or arches, included sessions, per-session or package basis | Extra sessions, protective care, follow-up, and VAT inclusion |
| Dentist-supervised home course | Upper and lower tray, initial gel quantity, training, and remake terms | Refill unit, collection visit, lost or distorted tray remake |
| Retail products | Actual checkout amount, one purchase unit, formal directions, and expiry | Delivery, repeat purchase count, and dental-check budget |
| Shared indirect cost | Travel, parking, delivery, collection, and time | Companion time, work absence, and repeated visits |
Use the final written amount from the consultation date rather than a promotional one-session headline.
In South Korea, tooth whitening is named in the VAT Enforcement Decree as a cosmetic dental service excluded from the medical-service exemption, so confirm whether the displayed and final quote already include VAT.
The calculator never adds another 10% automatically because doing so could double count tax already included in the quote.
In-office initial cost equals exam cost plus the per-session quote multiplied by first-course and additional sessions, plus a confirmed total financing fee.
Dentist-supervised home initial cost equals exam, custom tray, initial gel, and confirmed financing fee.
Retail initial cost equals the pre-use dental check and first product purchase.
The calendar repeats in-office maintenance sessions, dentist-supplied gel refills, tray replacement, retail repurchases, and repeat dental checks at the entered month cycles.
A zero-month cycle disables that event, while a cost without a cycle or a cycle without a cost produces an input warning.
An annual sensitivity-care allowance is placed at months 12, 24, 36, 48, and 60 without predicting that sensitivity will occur.
Nominal cost is the direct sum of entered cash events.
Present value discounts each future event by its month and the annual rate, then rounds the total to whole KRW.
Events in the same month are combined for peak monthly cash, which can reveal an affordability problem even when the five-year total is acceptable.
These values test the model and are not South Korean market averages, clinical protocols, or recommended cycles.
With a 0% discount rate and no indirect or financing cost, the in-office path uses a KRW 10,000 exam, three KRW 100,000 initial sessions, KRW 50,000 maintenance every 12 months, and a KRW 10,000 annual sensitivity budget.
The dentist-supervised home path uses KRW 150,000 for exam, tray, and first gel, a KRW 30,000 refill every six months, a KRW 80,000 tray replacement every 24 months, and a KRW 10,000 annual sensitivity budget.
The retail path uses KRW 30,000 for the first dental check and product, KRW 20,000 every three months, a KRW 10,000 dental check every 12 months, and a KRW 5,000 annual sensitivity budget.
| Path | 1 year | 3 years | 5 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| In-office | KRW 370,000 | KRW 490,000 | KRW 610,000 |
| Dentist-supervised home | KRW 220,000 | KRW 440,000 | KRW 660,000 |
| Retail home products | KRW 125,000 | KRW 315,000 | KRW 505,000 |
The retail path is cheaper in this fictional arithmetic only.
The three use units are sessions, a tray-and-refill course, and product purchases, so their clinical effect cannot be treated as equivalent.
A lower cost is not a treatment recommendation.
A 12-month primary cycle becomes 9, 12, and 15 months in the three rows.
Only the in-office maintenance, dentist-home refill, and retail repurchase cycles change, while tray replacement, dental checks, amounts, and the discount rate stay fixed.
The model tests each primary cycle from 1 to 60 months and reports the first interval whose five-year present value reaches the lower current cost of the other two paths.
This is an algebraic budget threshold, not predicted whitening duration or a safe treatment interval.
The calculator does not predict shade change or how quickly it occurs.
Ask a dentist about diagnosis, scheduling, and sensitivity management first, then enter only the confirmed sessions and indirect cost.
The repeat cycle can drive the three- and five-year total more than the first box price.
Include delivery and purchase time, then test the 75% row to see the effect of faster-than-planned repurchasing.
The annual sensitivity field is a reserve, not a probability model.
Tell the dentist about the prior response and enter a separate cost only when you intentionally want to budget an amount discussed or observed in your situation.
The American Dental Association explains that bleaching affects natural teeth rather than tooth-colored restorations.
Ask about a possible color mismatch and any separate restorative work, but do not add an invented replacement cost to this calculator.
ADA clinical information identifies temporary tooth sensitivity and gingival irritation as common adverse effects of vital-tooth whitening and notes that concentration, contact, tray fit, and individual conditions can matter.
Stop and contact a dentist for pain, a severe burning or gum reaction, persistent sensitivity, suspected cracks, or an underlying dental problem.
Pregnancy or nursing, age, allergies, decay, gum disease, wear, cracks, and restorations require individual professional review, and no calculator amount establishes safety.
Medical Service Act Article 45 in current law ID 001788 and MST 285327 requires providers to disclose non-covered charges in an accessible manner and prohibits collection above the disclosed amount.
Article 45-2 supports reporting, analysis, and public disclosure of non-covered items, criteria, amounts, and care details.
HIRA public information is a comparison starting point, while the consultation-date scope and final quote still control this budget.
VAT Act Article 30 in current MST 276117 sets the rate at 10%.
VAT Enforcement Decree Article 35 in current MST 283641 excludes cosmetic dental services that expressly include tooth whitening from the exempt medical-service category.
The calculator does not know whether the provider quote already includes VAT and therefore never adds tax automatically.
Income Tax Act Enforcement Decree Article 118-5 in current MST 286211 excludes cosmetic and plastic-surgery expenses from eligible medical expenses.
The calculator cannot decide personal purpose, evidence, policy coverage, or reimbursement, so no private insurance payment or tax credit is deducted.
Staining habits, cause of discoloration, method, protocol, natural teeth, restorations, and individual response differ too much for one universal duration.
Enter a planning cycle discussed for your situation and use the 75% and 125% rows to test uncertainty.
No cost ranking validates a product or a method.
The calculator does not assess approval status, ingredients, concentration, effectiveness, contraindications, or your dental condition, and sessions, refills, and purchases are not equal clinical-effect units.
No.
It is a user assumption for converting future payments to present value, while nominal cost keeps each entered amount unchanged and the model does not forecast Korean dental or retail prices.
No.
Use the field only when you intentionally want to reserve a confirmed or observed amount, and remember that KRW 0 does not predict that sensitivity or gum irritation will not occur.
This calculator makes no insurer or tax decision.
The 2026 Korean income-tax rule checked for this page excludes cosmetic and plastic-surgery expenses from eligible medical expenses, so confirm your actual purpose, documents, and policy with the responsible institution or adviser.
The legal and professional sources were checked on August 29, 2026.
Because all real amounts come from the user, recheck the provider posting, included services, repeat plan, and VAT on the consultation date.
The difference is useful only when all three paths cover the same natural teeth, included items, and defensible repeat plan.
Save the cash table and questions, then confirm contraindications, sensitivity, sessions, tray, gel, product directions, and VAT before fixing the budget.