Let's get White Teeth

I had been wanting to get my teeth whitened for quite some time now, and I finally decided to start with an at home kit to see where those results take me.There are a lot of products on the market, from trays (ick, I didn't want to deal with trays, I'm assuming you can't even talk when you're wearing those!) to stick on strips, to dissolving strips.I decided against the dissolving strips, just because I wasn't sure how effective they'd be if they dissolve within about 10 minutes and all the other systems say you need to have their stuff on for 30 minutes.

I selected the store brand of whitening strips, comparable to the Listerine brand.I selected the 10 day over the 14 day because, well, I'm impatient and I figured the sooner I was done with this, the better.I was anxious to try the strips out, so as soon as I got home I opened the package to read the directions.

Although they don't say to brush your teeth first, I went ahead and gave them a brush, figuring it sure wouldn't hurt any.I then followed the directions for application and started my 30 minute wait.The instructions did mention to not swallow the product, so of course the first thing your body does is make extra saliva so you HAVE to swallow, IMMEDIATELY.There was a slight plastic taste from the strips, but nothing too horrible, and I could feel some tingling action (from the hydrogen peroxide, I'm assuming) going on in my teeth/gum area.As saliva kept building up, I kept returning to the bathroom sink to spit...I am hoping that I get used to this because if I have to be within spitting distance of my bathroom for 30 minutes twice a day, that's going to put a damper on things!

About 15 minutes in, I experienced a very sharp pain in a lower tooth, however I reasoned it was because I had been biting down on the strips slightly (unintentionally) so it was probably putting too much direct pressure on my teeth.After I made an effort to not bite down on them like that again, I had no further problems.

After the 30 minutes, I went to remove the strips, and they were pretty secure to my teeth, so it took a bit of effort to get them off.I guess that's good because then you know the product is getting on your teeth.Upon first glance, my teeth appeared whiter - not sure if it was just in my head or if it had actually worked after just one application.

I do have dental work done, and the package clearly states that whitening will not occur on any porcelain, veneer, etc. teeth.I am fully aware of this, and will try to be careful to not over-whiten so that my implant teeth don't stand out as being a different shade.

After using this for three days, my teeth got to be pretty sensitive all the time, so I stopped using the it.It seemed to me that my teeth were in fact whiter, and I am planning on using it for a touch up as needed, probably just once a day instead of twice.After I stopped using the whitening system, the pain stopped after a couple of days, and I don't have any lingering sensitivities to heat or cold.

This system does appear to work, but if you have sensitive teeth, it may not be for you.