Advice on Teeth Whitening Discussion Thread

SparkyG

Had my teeth professionally whitened many years ago by my regular (brilliant) dentist with 'take home' trays. I now buy my refill syringes from www.dentist.net with my dentist's blessing!:D

i know Toothsmith says you cannot trust sellers on the internet, and I fully understand that, but I am 99.99 % sure this is a bona fide company, and have always had excellent service and fast delivery.

I use Excel nite white 16% ACP gel, and have just placed an order which works out at approx £5 per syringe (inc shipping charges) as opposed to my dentist's charge of £15 per syringe:eek:

I'm sorry, but although I don't mind paying for his training and professional expertise when I have treatment, I ain't paying £15 for a bit of bleach in a plastic syringe!!;)

HTH

SparkyG

telephone_man

I had the same problem and my dentist advised me to have a procedure done called Airflow. It was fantastic! Pain free, a snip at 40 quid and you will notice a huge difference in the colour of your teeth.

~daisy~_2

do you have any more details on this please ?

Toothsmith

I think T.M. is refering to an air-polisher.

It sandblasts your teeth with tiny bicarb particles. Really it's just a good thorough polish rather than anything that actually changes the intrinsic colour of the teeth.

I would say though, that for an awful lot of people, a really good polish would make the world of difference.

spurs71

Toothsmith,

You mention legal practises but I thought only peroxide was illegal if used above a certain strength. I checked with The White Teeth Company and they do not use peroxide.

Before I rung the white teeth company I rung several dentists who all said they used peroxide becuase they always have.

SparkyG

Toothsmith wrote: »

They are practicing illegally, as they use non-dentally quallified operatives to carry out proceedures classed as 'dentistry'.

They have been reported to the General Dental Council, and you should probably report them to your local Trading Standards office.

Hey Toothsmith (don't worry, I'm on your side:D ), lets be totally honest here and say that ALL tooth whitening is illegal:eek: even if carried out by a fully qualified dentist registered with the GDC.

Under EU laws it is an offence to supply tooth whitening products that contain or release more than 0.1% hydrogen peroxide. A 'crime' punishable by 6 months imprisonment, and/or a fine of £5000. Therefore all dentists who carry out whitening treatments, whether in surgery or for use at home, are breaking the law. That is a fact!:D

By the way, I know this because I work for trading standards;)

Yeah, the law's an !!!, and I quite happily whiten my teeth under the direction of my dentist :cool: Let's hope that there is never a test case. Don't want to see you locked up, Toothsmith, we love you too much here:A

SparkyG

Toothsmith

True enough, but dentists don't go about advertising the fact that they do it in the papers, and they don't stick great big signs saying 'Whitening Boutique' above their surgeries.

This has led to a sort of 'tolerance' by trading standards, as basically reasonable levels of carbamine peroxide, when administered by people who know what they're doing (As in 5 yrs + of training, plus experience built up over several years - as opposed to a day's course in some hotel conference room)

Should a dentist advertise whitening treatments though, they are often pounced on.

These boutiques, using Chlorine dioxide - (whatever the hell that does to the teeth?) flagrently breach about every rule going.

It sort of pigs me off a bit! Especially when they don't charge that much less than we do!

SparkyG

Absolutely agree with you :A :A

SparkyG

JennyW_2

The_JinJ wrote: »

My GF had a set of plastic moulds made at her dentists - they cost (plus 6 weeks worth of whitening) - £250 odd - good thing is, after the initial outlay you only pay for the solution at £20 a pop.
Had good results after 6 weeks - dropped a good few shades!

wish my top-up solutions were £20 - I have to pay £50.

To be honest I wouldn't do it again. I went through my dentist - cost £300. He explained that my teeth were good to start with anyway and I would only go 2 shades whiter.

THe process is very fiddly and a bit of a pain wearing the moulds, plus avoiding tea/coffee for a while and the sensitivity - oh my god - was a big issue for me :eek: really bad electric shocks going through my teeth.

I wasn't that impressed with the results but then perhaps my teeth weren't that bad

Toothsmith

JennyW wrote: »

wish my top-up solutions were £20 - I have to pay £50.

This seems a bit OTT.

Maybe he's discouraging you from buying any more!! But it would really be better just to tell you!