Has anyone whitened their own teeth at home?

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Gracey
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Has anyone whitened their own teeth at home?

Post by Gracey » Tue Sep 22, 2009 3:04 pm

I have done a search but can't find anything.

Over the years my teeth have become discoloured; not badly so but enough for me to wish they were whiter. I know there are clinics that do it but they are quite pricey and I've been noticing DIY packs and am wondering whether to go for it.

My teeth are in great condition otherwise; I look after them and have never had a filling. So I don't want to cause myself any problems by being vain :lol: but would appreciate any advice or experience you wonderful people may be able to offer.

Is it risky? Does it hurt? Does it even work? Is there anything I need to know before I buy and use a kit?

Thanks people x
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Re: Has anyone whitened their own teeth at home?

Post by CherryLex » Tue Sep 22, 2009 3:40 pm

I got a professional at-home kit from my dentist once a few years ago - it created a lot of pain in my mouth so I would not reccomend anything this strong to someone who is doing it on their own.
I have also used some OTC products such as whitening tooth pastes and mouth washes, since these are only on your teeth briefly that don't create the pain/sensitivity that the kit caused, however they do take a little longer to see results. I definitely prefer this though, as long as you stick to the recoomended regimen you will see results.

*The kit I used was some sort of extra strength peroxide deal. My dentist made trays for me that fit my teeth perfectly and I used the whitener at night while I slept. It made my teeth so sensitive that the entire next day even room temp water hurt them. In addition the gunk leaked out & left my cheeks, gums & the the area at the back of my throat & under my tongue feel strange. Oddly, I have a lip ring that touches my front 2 teeth & gums right under them - during & after the bleaching if my ring hit my gums it created a searing pain so bad that I had to take the ring out.
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Re: Has anyone whitened their own teeth at home?

Post by vivid » Tue Sep 22, 2009 3:58 pm

I know they tested home whitening kits on Gok Wan's tv program once... they took one kit from each price range and had someone test it for a month (I think it was)

The results that came back were that the most effective product was the Pearl Drops tooth polish used every day, which was the cheapest too. I just remember watching it as I use the Pearl Drops myself anyway...
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Re: Has anyone whitened their own teeth at home?

Post by Zeddread » Tue Sep 22, 2009 4:35 pm

My housemate bought a kit off ebay, which I never would have attempted :shock: , but it's actually worked really well for her.

I think they are like little tabs you stick onto each tooth over the period of a month or something. She's had no problems with it, and it was only £18 or something.
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Re: Has anyone whitened their own teeth at home?

Post by Dystopatica » Tue Sep 22, 2009 4:52 pm

Crest Whitestrips are pretty good for at home kits. They come in various different strengths so I would start with the lowest "regular" ones and if you don't have any sensitivity then you can try the higher concentration ones.

They are a bit awkward to use at first, but you can press the strips into the curves of your teeth with a toothpick for a more even coverage. Your best bet is to put them on and then go in the bath, that way if you drool on yourself a little bit it won't matter too much ;)
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Re: Has anyone whitened their own teeth at home?

Post by night_wolf » Tue Sep 22, 2009 7:35 pm

I had a conversation about this just now actually, I'm not thrilled by the idea of using a home-kit specially when my teeth are already pretty sensitive.

Has anybody paid for it at the dentist? I'm curious if anybody has had it done. ;)

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Re: Has anyone whitened their own teeth at home?

Post by Pallidity » Wed Sep 23, 2009 3:55 am

Any kind of whitening can irritate regardless of whether it's at home or the dentist. I'd be careful about it. One of my ex's whitened his teeth and it resulted in a cracked tooth. I've also been advised to avoid it because I was born a preemie an most destroy quite a bit of enamel (which preemies have very little of - nearly 90% of preemies have enamel defects in their adult teeth and nearly 40% of normally-born people have problems which can be exacerbated by lifestyle choices).

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Re: Has anyone whitened their own teeth at home?

Post by Nanou2 » Wed Sep 23, 2009 1:40 pm

My mum got a home kit from the dentist. In the time she is doing it she can't drink anything like tea/red wine.

She said they are rather sensitive. She only has to do it for about 3months.

She is nearly finished .. her teeth are super white!

I just use a tooth powder every now and then. It's called Eucryl (Spelling?) you buy it in England from like superdrugs/boots/asda It costs hardly anything and works amazing.

It just scrubs the surface stains off. I once used it everyday for 3days and my teeth were well white. It's bad for your teeth if you do that though!

It's worth a try first. The dentist kit cost my mum around 200quid

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Re: Has anyone whitened their own teeth at home?

Post by Gracey » Wed Sep 23, 2009 3:12 pm

Thanks all that is very helpful. Yes, I remember using Eucryl actually, a long time ago. I forgot all about that stuff :o

I think I might try the Colgate strips as they sound like something i could be bothered with. I've never had tooth pain and I'm in no rush to start now so I will leave the kits alone.
Your best bet is to put them on and then go in the bath, that way if you drool on yourself a little bit it won't matter too much
That really did make me laugh out loud; gave me a very vivid image of being laid in the bath, with dribble running down my chin! :lol:
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Re: Has anyone whitened their own teeth at home?

Post by iamtheparty » Wed Sep 23, 2009 5:00 pm

I think if you have sensitive teeth, anything that whitens is probably not a great idea. I use a toothpaste by Arm & Hammer called 'Sensitive Whitening' which I like quite a lot but for some reason I can only ever find it in Poundland! Not that I'm complaining!

My bf drinks a lot of tea and is conscious of it staining his teeth so he bought this:

http://www.boots.com/en/Colgate-Total-P ... ste_36491/

It worked well for him, but his stains are probably quite superficial, ie. they've not built up over years and years.
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Re: Has anyone whitened their own teeth at home?

Post by Zombie Strawberries » Thu Sep 24, 2009 2:31 pm

I can't use any of those since my left pallet is part fake. it would result in akward colors. greying the teeth instead of whiteninng it. Else I would try the white strips... I have horrible yellow teeth! -but at least they are straight!

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Re: Has anyone whitened their own teeth at home?

Post by kaned_ferret » Sat Sep 26, 2009 9:26 pm

I am actually in the middle of using a home whitening kit that I got from boots, and can say that the difference is noticable, even though I've not been using it twice a day every day as suggested! I think it works by stripping the teeth though, as they do feel incredibly CLEAN afterwards, not just looking better.. so I can see that sentivity-prone peeps should beware, but for £7, I'm not complaining!

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Gracey
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Re: Has anyone whitened their own teeth at home?

Post by Gracey » Sun Sep 27, 2009 8:37 am

I got one from Superdrug on Friday but haven't used it yet. They didn't have the strips so I bought one called Brilliant which contains no peroxide. I haven't used it yet but might do today, though it all looks quite fiddly. I'm a bit nervous after reading all this stuff about sensitivity, but I'm guessing the cause of that must be peroxide.
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Re: Has anyone whitened their own teeth at home?

Post by kaned_ferret » Sun Sep 27, 2009 2:37 pm

I think any sensitivity caused by these things should be fairly short term, I had one day of feeling sensitive just in my two middle lower incisors so gave it a break and voila it went again and all was back to normal.

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Re: Has anyone whitened their own teeth at home?

Post by neonpixie » Mon Sep 28, 2009 10:41 am

there is a 100% natural way of whitening you teeth- thats dead cheep too! with Strawberries! Seriously! they contain malic acid- wjust follow the method here http://living.health.com/2008/02/21/whi ... tural-way/
It worked for me, you just have to do it a few times .
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Re: Has anyone whitened their own teeth at home?

Post by AGE » Sun Aug 07, 2011 8:17 am

I know this is an older thread, buuuut I'm bored at work...and This is one of my lil secrets. I'm a smoker (hopefull not for much longer) but I've always gotten compliments on my non yellowed teeth.

Instead of mouth wash I use peroxide. YOu can dillute with a lil water (or even some mouth wash cause it does taste nasty) I don't dilute it personally as I'm used to it (been like 10 years since i started doing this) . This works great for me, and I have terrible cavities due to smoking and genetics...lol and Coffee. I also have sensitive gums.
Yes... you can burn yourself! Just be careful. If it starts to hurt...spit it out, and rinse well.

My method: 1. lightly brush teeth without paste. 2. Rinse with peroxide mix to ones likeling only for about 10-20 seconds (or whatever works best for you) and spit. 3. brush teeth as you normaly would.

Using peroxide as a mouth rinse has also been recomended for folks with cronic mouth sores (IE: lupis, canker soars, blisters etc.)
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