at home tooth whitening

[kimmy]

i've had braces for the past...18 or so months, and my orthodontist said that they'll probably be ready to take them off on October 24th (everyone keep your fingers crossed for me hahaha

)

my dad had braces a few years ago and he brushed his teeth constantly, and very thouroughly. but when they took the braces off, he had little white squares where the brackets were, and there was a little discolouration around them.

i had a palette spreader for almost a year before my braces, which hurt like a bitch. plus braces are a total pain in the ass. so the way i see it, since i've put up with all this crap for so long, my teeth are going to be AMAZING. part of that, is being pearly and evenly white

what are the best home whitening kits? which ones work the quickest?

my friend used Crest White Strips all the time and he has got THE whitest teeth i have EVER seen, but they seem too good to be true you know? i think he may have had them professionally done also but i'm not sure, so does anyone have any suggestions on what to use?

TIA!

 

[csuthetaphi]

I never had much luck with the at-home products. Maybe my teeth were too discolored to begin with. I got some stuff called "Bright Smile" from my dentist about 5 years ago, and it was awesome! I had the whitest teeth ever, and they never went back to being that discolored again! It was well worth the money.

 

[kimmy]

how much was it?

 

[Shimmer]

Crest Whitestrips are the BOMB. But Kroger's generic version is supposed to be really good.

 

[Ella_]

I just use a mouth wash with peroxide in it. Its called peroxyl, but according to my dentist a mix of 1pt 1.5% peroxide with 2 parts water used as an after teeth cleaning rinse will work as well.

Im sticking with the mouth wash but it really does work

 

[DaizyDeath]

i know how you feel i had to have braces on for 5 years when i was younger!

thats like a world record i think hahaha


professional teeth whitening isnt that expensive if you go to the right place.

i would say try crest white strips 2 but those are preety expensive atleast to me. Also be carefull not to overwhiten them beacuse alot of people do that and loose the enamal on their teeth then get sensitive teeth and cavities.

 

[aeni]

The whitening ingedrient found in all of those treatments are simply peroxide - and you'll find it at your grocery store for .65 cents.

I'd say strips work pretty well. I got tooth sensitivity after awhile though, but I keep the white going strong with a swig of peroxide before or after I brush. I keep it in as long as I can for 5 minutes or so, but peroxide has a way of bubbling up as a result of killing bacteria. After you spit it out, you'll have a nice film that everyone else who uses a whitestrip has.

 

[Vixen]

After my braces were removed, my teeth were white around the area where the braces were and yellow where the braces were. The orthodontist even noticed the discolouration that the braces had given me (yellow where the glue was and white around it), which is pretty damn strange). So I went to my dentist to get my teeth bleached the same colour. I've also tried Crest White strips and the dentist product gave me far better results (but more pain).
The custom mouth trays w/ bleach (keep in mind all the prices I'm quoting is in Canadian dollars) is $250, whereas, Crest white strips is $50.
The dentist brand ones are way more powerful and when you run out of bleach and feel like you need a touch up, the bleach itself is under $50 since you already have the tray.

 

[sewpunk]

Hopefully you won't have noticable squares (i didn't after I had my braces removed), but you will probably want to whitten anyway for the errr... fun or it! I like the White Strips, go for that. They are always on sale at CVS at least once a month.

so yeah, never go whiter then the whites of your eyes.... you'll look radioactive. :O

 

[bebs]

I know I had braces when I was younger and I hated it, my problem was my teeth got a few scars from it.. the doctor didnt take all the glue off right and pulled to much or something, I've sence gotten my teeth bleached so now you cant tell.

I got trays made at my dentists office, it cost me $400 -2 to 3 minute impressions to get the trays made to fit your teeth excatly- and then bleach there cost $10 a bottle you can stay there for an hour or two well they are bleaching.

before spending that kind of money I did try the white stips and all these things, but alot of the over the counter stuff just doesnt work.

also a warning if you have had any work done on your mouth (ex. bridges, crowns, impants) you want to get trays made and stay away from over the counter stuff ... my mom had a crown get pulled out by the tray that wasnt made for her and the suckation and junk was off. and it can hurt dental work.

hope this helps.

 

[Kisbee]

Be careful with the non-dentist ones, there was a study that came out in the last few days saying that people have been having trouble with home whitening solutions being too strong and causing gum and tooth problems.

Here's the link:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...418369,00.html

 

[thestarsfall]

Good luck with the braces removal...I had a palettal expansion thingy and then I had braces (from grade 8 til grade 11....) and during the time with braces (grade 10) I had jaw surgery to correct my crossbite.

Now my teeth are perfect...but they are not white

I was watching a sciencey type show (daily planet?) and they interviewed this one guy on it who said that a simple whitening technique is just to take some peroxide (3% from the drugstore) and apply it to your teeth with a q-tip. However, this only works if you keep your mouth open and teeth exposed as long as possible. The longer its on the better it works (hence why a gel with trays, or a strip around the teeth would work better than just a brush on kinda thing)... So...

If I had to rate the products in order of how well they work it would be: 1st place: professional bleaching with trays and gels from dentist
2nd place: crest whitestrips or similar strips
3rd place: all brush-on and leave there for a while kinda things
4th place: whitening toothpastes (but you would have to brush for a long time)
5th place: whitening mouthwashes/peroxide rinses (you would have to rinse for a long time...)


This is just based on science...I havent had actual experience...haha

me science nerd

Edit: actually...I have just recently learned that H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) mouthwash isnt really reccommended at all, because 1) it doesnt have a long enough time to react with the teeth and 2) if you swish it for a long enough time to react with the teeth you also end up killing off a bunch of cells everywhere else in your mouth....so basically it will damage your gums and the rest of the soft tissue in your mouth before it will do anything at all in the whitening category