Advice on Teeth Whitening Discussion Thread

ch0ccy

I only got 1 syringe of 5ml Enlighten for 2 weeks, which I've now finished but the colour of my teeth are not even. They charge £65 per top up tube so I'm trying to find a cheaper brand as I already have the trays.

brook2jack

How much did they charge for whitening? One syringe will never be enough to do both jaws and I've never heard of a dentist only giving out one syringe for a treatment. Top up syringes are normally only bought when top up treatment is needed maybe a year after original treatment.

ch0ccy

I was told via email they usually charged £450 they had a special teeth whitening offer for £200. My dentist said to use the gel only on the front upper 6 teeth as you can't see the rest. Last year I tried voco perfect bleach (6x 1.2ml 10% PF syringes) from my previous dentist, which turned out to be completely useless. FWIW I don't smoke or drink alcohol/tea/coffee and my teeth weren't that stained to begin with, but I have a bulbous NHS crown on one of my front teeth that I want to change (caused by an accident when I was 12), hence the teeth whitening before I get a nice new crown. I want to make sure my teeth are as white as possible before any crown work.

brook2jack

For £200 I would still expect them to provide more than one syringe ( I trust they didn't mention just one syringe in email) and you should expect as you are paying a dentist for whitening then normally what you pay for is a stable result . I normally give patients 6 tubes to start and more if they have resistant teeth that take a bit longer (4 to 6 weeks sometimes). £65 a tube is very expensive and may explain the "discounted" price. However I would never buy syringes off the Internet you have no guarantee what's in them and even if they are genuine whitening syringes need to be kept refrigerated to stop them going off and this obviously doesn't happen when delivered in the post!

moneylover

Choccy, I hope you manage to get some more syringes from the current dentist, he will surely know how many are usual and not argue especially as you have had good advice here.
I am quite interested in Enlighten as it is supposed to create little sensitivity - did you have the chairside treatment first and how did you find it? Reading the dentist blurb is nothing like talking to another patient although I do realise that people can react differently

ch0ccy

I went to see the dentist earlier today because I was concerned my teeth were not whitened evenly. He got out a shade chart which showed my teeth were previously C3 (as my crown hadn't changed in colour) and they're now B1 at the top, and slightly whiter than B1 at the bottom. My natural teeth look nice & white if I smile with my mouth half open covering up the top half, but as I said to him I didn't pay to have only half of my teeth whitened. His reply was to use more gel on the teeth that have uneven colour, but it seems to me their prices for the syringes are towards the higher end.

When I was researching teeth whitening, I emailed Enlighten direct (you could only search with a post code on their site) for a list of dentists around my area that offered Enlighten Evolution and I phoned/emailed every single clinic for prices before doing more research on the clinics themselves. The prices I was quoted varied between £350-£600 and this clinic had a special offer going of £200, plus £70 initial examination fee which I thought worked out to be the best deal.

I was under the impression that Enlighten's whitening system was 14 days whitening followed by an in surgery visit of 30mins - 1hr, but I don't know why the one I went to only offers the home whitening part, which I found out after I'd agreed to the treatment, but all the others I phoned had home whitening/in surgery when I asked about Enlighten. I quote him "for £200 you can't get much better" but if I'm not wrong if something is on "special offer price" it should be the exact same as the original non discounted.

The trays are not made by Enlighten either, as I confirmed with a different dentist who will be doing my crown work.

I'm not really sure what to do now. Either I buy more gel and hope my teeth get as white as they would be had I gone for the proper Enlighten home whitening/in surgery combination, or do the whole thing again with my crown dentist for £595 which will guarantee results. I don't really want to go back to my whitening dentist again, as they're never open at the weekends and close at 5.30pm meaning I'd have to take some time off especially. Plus the first time I went to get my trays, the bottom tray was too loose and they had to send them off to be remade which took another 2 weeks.

moneylover - I had some sensitivity for the first couple of days after wearing the trays overnight, some random shooting pain in my front teeth but after that I think my teeth got used to it. I wouldn't be able to tell you about the in chair treatment as I've not had it, but from what I've read it's just a higher concentration of gel.

moneylover

well, I can understand you dont want to go back however, as other people have said, it isnt satisfactory. You could ask for a partial refund, then start again and/or go through the dental practice's complaints procedure. I think I have read somewhere that its the follow up chairside procedure that evens things out
There is at least one dentist on this board, who has answered questions for me about Enlighten and hopefully he will see this thread and comment on what you can expect from Enlighten. Enlighten talk about the 'full treatment' not just trays but I suppose iits up to the dentist what he does once he has bought into the system. Probably it would even out with another few trays so perhaps insisting you have another couple for nothing might also be worth a try. Its such a shame after you did so much research.

jugglebug

I haven't used enlighten for some time so they may have updated the system but they guarantee the result after 14 days of tray use plus the in surgery session. It seems to me your dentist is offering a cut price service by cutting the system. Shame they are marketing as enlighten because despite using enlighten gel doesn't seem they are following the enlighten system.

ch0ccy

I have sent an email to Enlighten to see what they say. From this page on their website http://www.enlightensmiles.com/teeth.html it seems they have two different home kits. First looks like the full whitening system which guarantees B1, and the second has two syringes of different concentrations for at home whitening week 1 & week 2. Looks like the dentist I chose doesn't use either of them.

My original email to Enlighten was "I'm wondering if you could give me a list of dentists/dental clinics offering Enlighten Evolution in the Cambridge/Ipswich/Suffolk areas? The search for a dentist feature on your site is a little difficult to use as it requires a post code." And when I was given a list of 9 dentists I phoned them all for prices, looked at the clinics' websites & googled for reviews.

Until I hear back from Enlighten it looks like these are now my options:

1) Go back to the whitening dentist to try to get some sort of refund as my teeth are whiter but uneven, which means booking an appointment again, but after this week the dentist will be away until May and there's no chance I'll get another appointment before he leaves. I finished my whitening last Thursday and yesterday's slot was the only one available. Also, going back would mean taking half a day off for the 5th time (1st consultation/impressions, 2nd failed trays, 3rd new trays, 4th yesterday) not only for me but my bf too, as I don't have a car, and taxi/train station/taxi is far less economical. Plus the moral support is always good.

2) Do the full whitening for £595 with my crown dentist (conveniently open until 9pm twice a week) who offers 14 day at home whitening with trays made by Enlighten followed by a 1hr in surgery visit. I spoke to him recently about my current whitening, he seemed surprised and said he'd never heard of home whitening only with Enlighten, and all the whitening he has done had excellent trays made by Enlighten.

3) Five hour round trip to SW London (2 hrs 16 mins each way not including awesome London traffic, about 200miles total, petrol cost maybe £40-50) this weekend to buy Enlighten gels from a big London clinic. They charge £29 for one syringe or £50 for two. If I was to buy 4 gels for £100 that would already be a decent saving even including petrol. As I already have my own trays I just need to turn up for them to check the fit (free) and buy the gels. Only concern is as my trays are made at a different clinic, there's always the possibility that they'll say the trays are not up to standard, then it would be a wasted journey.

No idea what to do really, I can't help but stress about it. Would using a few more syringes get me the same result as the full home/in surgery whitening? I don't mind if it takes a bit longer but really don't want to pay an additional £600 for the proper Enlighten

welshdent

tbh I would not recommend using someone based on system. Choose a practitioner based on reputation and ability by all means. By being system led you get someone who will use one for a variety of reasons but it may not be the best. FWIW I have found voco to work well in the past. At the end of the day IMHO, most of the time whitening gels are like ibuprofen .... tescos own or nurofen .... If you see what I mean??