Advice on Teeth Whitening Discussion Thread

princess

For the benefit of those still asking - Crest whitestrips are excellent! You leave the strip on for half an hour or so each day and within 3-4 days you will see a big difference. I do a 'maintenance' bleach with one pair of strips about every six months and I constantly get compliments. Have never had any gum problems or sensitivity.. but obviously there is no guarantee that you wont! Seriously the most effective 'beauty' product I have ever used.

skintas_2

i used the gel a few times prefer the powder stuff cant remember the name, you can buy it from 99p store its in a ciricle tin and is green powder

Toothsmith

Another vested interest I think!

On the 'booking' bit of the website, it states that '2, 3 or 4 sessions may be needed, and each will "only" cost £250.'

So you could easily be charging some people £1000 to get their teeth whitened?

And this is by a dentist is it? Or a hairdresser/beauty therapist/nail technician who has done a weekend course where you ommitted to tell her that she would be taking part in the 'illegal practice of dentistry' as defined by the Dentist's Act of 1984?

With the overheads of a small room in a sports club, or cheaper still if you go round to someones house - without the same regulations as a dental practice, and obviously not using staff with anywhere near the qualifications of dental staff, I think you have a flaming cheek charging MORE for your treatments than the average dental surgery.

And then to pretend it's cheaper!!!!

angel

I had trays made and bought 15% gel from a dentist friend of mine a year ago. A while after, thinking that I was money saving, I bought some 25% gel from ebay for a few pounds. What a mistake! Whatever was in the syringes started reacting badly within minutes and burned like acid, luckily I ran to the bathroom and got it off quickly. It just made me realise that Toothsmith is absolutely right when he says not to mess with your teeth and gums, especially when buying from somewhere like ebay. Goodness knows what was in the syringe. I've even been imagining teenagers in their bedrooms making dangerous stuff for a laugh and selling it, you just don't know.

ari_dubov

As a dental professional I can tell you that I have tried and researched many OTC bleaching kits, they all have very limited results, they are cheap but they dont do much, in my opinion the best way to whiten teeth is in office laser whitening, such as zoom, currently discus dental has anew teeth bleaching system the zoom 2 AP (advanced power) I hav used it many times and it works great. If you live in Northen NJ we have a special for the above bleaching a $349.

Ari Dubov

Toothsmith

Transatlatic spam now!

I do like the website though. The page on how to find a dentist gives some good advice!

angel

Oh and one more thing that I've just remembered ... don't EVER bleach your teeth after eating an orange! It stings like crazy!

Nataku

when whitening kits say the gel is pH balanced, does it mean it is neutral i.e. pH 7?

LopezLopez

Toothsmith, my teeth are quite badly discoloured due to tetracycline and about 6 years ago I tried the Opalesence method (dentist-led). I paid I think about £300, had the mould done and then took the syringes home. No one has mentioned here that this procedure can be extremely painful as it was for me due to sensitive teeth. I persevered as much as I was able to but after wearing the moulds overnight, I used to be in agony the day after, even in tears. My teeth did get a lot better bearing in mind the limitations caused by the tetracycline staining. However, after a while, I really was unable to bear the pain and I stopped the treatment completely. I think I did half the sessions (nights) I was supposed to do on my upper teeth and only about 4 sessions (nights) on the lower, as they were even more painful. My teeth look worse now as I age but I'm scared of repeating the treatment. Is there anything at all you could recommend me? Many thanks.

joe13

I would love to have my teeth whitened - but I have several crowns, including one at the front.

My dentist suggested having my teeth whitened, I do not smoke but do drink coffee and diet coke so they are quite a dark creamy colour.
I asked my dentist what difference if any it would make to the crowns and she did not give me a definate anser (it was more we will have to wait and see).

Can any of you experts or anyone who has crowns tell me what happens to the colour.

thanks for any advice