Preconditioning mouth rinse, which pre-treats the teeth to better receive a whitening formula containing a photosensitive compound, and a hand-held consumer light source (10) for tooth whitening, which provides rapid tooth whitening, are disclosed. The light source may use a specific range of visible light and also emit heat sufficient to raise the temperature of the teeth a desired amount at a depth up to about 2 mm in the range of about from 1 - 5° Celsius over a predetermined period of time.
