Home Teeth Whitening Kits

There are so many of these home teeth whitening kits, and the price ranges are just huge- I've seen everything from 10 dollars or less, all the way to almost $300.  I definitely have not used a $300 kit, and I don't know that I would. 

In my area, there used to be a mall teeth whitening area, it was right in the middle of the mall, where people would sit in these egg-shaped chairs while some people (definitely not trained dental professionals) used some solution and some kind of light rays.  They got shut down because they were not using hydrogen peroxide and the local authorities said the employees were practicing dentistry without a license.  Personally, I would not do that kind of thing in an open area mall and not even a dentist.  Kind of suspicious when dentists charge hundreds of dollars and the mall has it for $59. 

Anyway, I have used two whitening kits in the past, the first is DenTek:

I got this one because it was really inexpensive, like under $10.  I did not know if I actually needed my teeth whiter, so I thought I would try it and see what it did, if anything. 

My teeth felt cleaner after using this as directed, but the whitening was very subtle, I mostly noticed it right after I brushed the solution away on about days 4 and after. I did like the flexible mouthpieces that came with the kit, and I really liked the method of squeezing the solution onto the mouthpieces, I could feel it got on my teeth sufficiently.

The next one I tried was Crest White Strips:

These were incredibly frustrating for me to purchase, because they had an entire aisle of Crest White Strips.  What is the deal with that.  I had no idea they had so many versions!!  I did notice my teeth were whiter after I used these, and I was planning on doing a blog post but I must have had bad lighting issues because although I saw it in the mirror, when I took pictures day one and day five looked exactly the same. 

I experienced absolutely no sensitivity or pain using either of those products. I also did not see a problem with the length of the strips, they covered all my visible teeth. 

I have heard a lot about Go Smile too, they are I think $89, and I have seen mixed reviews, and I haven't seen them in action, but I know they are not strips.

The latest home kit I have seen is GLO.  Their solution is 6% hydrogen peroxide.  They say this system will give you EIGHT shades whiter teeth- wow that is extreme white in my opinion.  It is $275- yikes!  I don't know if I would pay that much- to me, if I really felt like I needed that level of whitening, I would have it done professionally.  That being said, this really seems like the way to go if you didn't want or couldn't have it done profesionally, or to maintain that level of whitening. 

I can also see the benefit of using something like this if you've had braces- I know my teeth were off coloured after I got mine off, and my dentist didn't offer to whiten them.  I didn't really notice until quite a while later, and by then my teeth weren't perfectly straight anymore, so I didn't bother messing with them. 

I love the idea of home whitening, although I must admit, it is not something I do on a regular basis.  I did not grow up in a culture or home where white teeth were really important, and I really do not think there is anything wrong with natural coloured teeth.  For me personally, my teeth are not bad, even though they aren't snow white either.  If I were to get Invisalign or do something drastic to my teeth, I think I might invest in some whitening too.