At-home tooth whitening

[shortstax]

I'm in a wedding in a few weeks, and my coffee addiction has made my smile a little less than white.

Looking online at amazon, I see there are a zillion varities of home whitening strips/kits available. I'm surprised at the variety of Crest whitestrips alone.

Which ones have worked for you? Any horror stories?

Any advice helps, thanks!

[M]

I could never stick to the Crest whitestrips so they never worked for me. I've been using Colgate Optic White toothpaste and after 2 weeks it was noticeably whiter. I also drink a lot of coffee all day long haha.

[anna7602]

I've tried different ones over the years, but have found that a good cleaning from my dental hygienist ends up removing surface stains. Can you schedule a cleaning? My hygienist is awesome at making my teeth look like I've never had a glass or red wine or cup of coffee.

I also use a peroxide rinse.

[shortstax]

Nov 13, 2012 10:32:23 GMT -5 anna7602 said:

I've tried different ones over the years, but have found that a good cleaning from my dental hygienist ends up removing surface stains. Can you schedule a cleaning? My hygienist is awesome at making my teeth look like I've never had a glass or red wine or cup of coffee.

I also use a peroxide rinse.

I've thought about this, but I've already used my 2 cleanings/year that I'm allowed on my insurance. I wonder how much it would be to pay out of pocket for a cleaning? I'm thinking even the highest grade whitestrips would be cheaper

[isabel]

I've used the pro series Crest strips and had really good results. I used them before getting a cap made for my very front tooth. They were definitely shades whiter after finishing the treatment.

[mrshandy]

I have a funny but unlikely horror story about these things. DH was the best man in BIL's wedding and had whitened his teeth with the whitening strips for the month or two before the wedding. They looked good.

Thursday night was the co-ed bachelor/bachelorette party. We did an 80s theme and had a blast going around Portland bars. On the way home, DH and a friend (both pretty drunk) were goofing around, wrestling and DH fell on the cobblestone. CRACK! DH gets up and he is missing half of his front tooth!

He was pretty upset and worried. The next morning, BIL and I got up early and started calling every dentist within 30 miles. Half of them weren't open on Fridays, the other half didn't have availability. Finally, DH's aunt had a dentist friend that had an opening. Thank god!

I'm convinced that it was the whitening strips that weakened his teeth so that they were easier to break. So just don't do any wrestling on cobblestone and you should be fine!

[rikki]

I get 4 cleanings per year. My insurance covers 2 and I pay about $120 for the other 2.

[rikki]

Crest Vivid White toothpaste works really well, too.

[shortstax]

Nov 13, 2012 10:52:29 GMT -5 mrshandy said:

So just don't do any wrestling on cobblestone and you should be fine!

Damn, there goes my plans for this weekend