Disclosed is a smart lighting system for applying light to teeth in the context of tooth whitening. This particularly concerns teeth that have been provided with a light curable whitening varnish. The system comprises a light generating unit a light patterning unit a mouth imaging unit a mouth image sensing unit and an image processing and control unit and is adapted so as to allow the image processing and control unit to adjust the light patterning unit on the basis of information obtained from the mouth image sensing unit. By doing so prior to allowing the light generating unit to emit light it can be ensured that light emitted to assist tooth whitening does not affect soft tissue.
