From The Past: November 2, 2006

I often wonder if certain products work or if new foods are good, but I don’t want to spend the money trying them. I’m not one to try new things and I don’t want to feel in the end that I threw my money out the window. I’m sure you can relate. For this reason, I want to tell you about a product I recently tried.

A few weeks ago, I asked a friend how she kept her teeth so white and she told me about Crest Whitestrips. I had wondered if they really whitened, but I never wanted to spend the $40. I know that’s a lot cheaper than going to the dentist and paying $350 to have my teeth bleached, but still, $40 is $40! The only downside she said was they made her teeth sensitive for a few hours after using them. She said that one day her teeth were so sensitive; she had to skip using the Whitestrip.

Since they worked so well for her, I decided I would bite the bullet and try them. Here is what you get for your $40:

In the blue container, you get 20 blue packets (these are for your upper teeth) and 20 white packets (for your lower teeth) and a set of instructions. I have no idea why they put them in such a large container when these would easily fit in something the size of a band-aid box.

You wear the strips twice a day, thirty minutes each time, for ten days. Here’s what they look like:

The strips have a gel-like substance on them, which whitens, but it also helps the strip stay on your teeth. The directions say you can talk with them on, but I wasn’t comfortable doing this. I wanted to keep them perfectly in place and I felt when I talked, my tongue moved them slightly. I was afraid of getting uneven white spots if they moved.

All went well. I did one 30-minute interval each day in the afternoon and another before bedtime. On day 7 out of 10, my teeth began to get sensitive. It felt like a small ache. Fortunately, it went away in a few hours.

The next day, however, after using the strips, it was worse pain. The directions say you can do just one treatment per day, but I wanted to stay on schedule and do twice a day. Therefore, I did my treatment before bedtime.

Boy! I thought something was really wrong because it hurt so bad! I have never had a cavity, but I would assume this is what it feels like. It was a horrible aching all over my teeth. I could feel each tooth individually and each tooth hurt. Sleep was my only escape.

After that, I decided to do one treatment a day. This decision caused me to use the strips for four more days instead of just two, but I don’t think I could have handled that pain again.

I can honestly believe they worked. My teeth are slightly whiter and I am happy about that. They don’t look as if I used Zoom!, but they look better than they did. They are supposed to stay this way for 18 months (because I bought the premium).

The big question is would I do it again? My answer is: I don’t know.

**Update 2022: I have never bought a teeth whitening kit again. When I said each individual tooth hurt, that’s exactly what I meant. I was in enough pain to keep me away from these forever. Looking back, I don’t really believe they made that much of a difference anyway. I wonder if they have improved over the years.

 

I don’t know if the teeth sensitivity part was worth it. I mean, can it be good for your teeth if it does that? I wouldn’t think so, but I don’t know.