Barbie wouldn’t be caught dead with yellow teeth!
White teeth look better than yellow ones, and that’s all there is to it. There isn’t a celebrity today who smiles on the red carpet without blindingly white choppers. But even if you had naturally white teeth in your early years, time, and stains, can yellow and discolor your teeth. If you have lots of money you can opt for a professional teeth whitening treatment. But these tend to be unpleasant, and very expensive. However, if you’re not aiming to get your teeth as ridiculously white as a bathroom fixture, or a Barbie Doll, you can opt for a do it yourself teeth whitening treatment.
Quite a few different types of treatments at various price-points have proliferated in the past few years, but not all of them will provide an equally good result. If you have just a minimal amount of staining and fairly white teeth to begin with, pastes, strips and gels can clean them up a bit. For more whitening, a few companies have created “at home” teeth whitening kits that use light devices to help make your pearly white dreams come true. These devices aren’t necessarily inexpensive, but compared to what it would cost to do something similar in a salon/spa or medical office, they are a relative bargain. Another plus is that you can use the light device more than once. That helps to justify the expense.
The Advice Sisters recently were introduced to one such DIY tooth whitening system called: “Dial a Smile Professional Home Teeth Whitening Kit ($399.00)
It almost seems too good to be true, but the Dial a Smile Professional Home Teeth Whitening Kit, is the real thing! The kit includes a “color wheel” so you can check your tooth color before, and after. The entire process takes just 20 minutes (and that’s once, unless you really want to make your teeth insanely bright while). It is painless, reasonably pleasant (you just can’t open your mouth for 20 minutes) and you can do whatever you want while you treat your teeth to a new look. I’m typing while whitening, right now!
The kit includes a few essentials, including a blue plastic, battery operated light source, a tube of whitening gel with enough for three treatments, an applicator brush, three Vitamin E swabs, Three tooth wipes, three tooth cloths, and a color wheel to show the difference between “before,” and “after.”
These instructions show you how easy it is to prepare your teeth, apply the gel, and get the whitening done. I gamely got started, put the gel on my teeth, and then discovered, to my utter dismay, that the light device wouldn’t turn on! When you’re dealing with electronic and battery-operated gadgets like this one, sometimes you just get a dud. It’s happened to me more than once with items I’ve been hoping to review, so I wasn’t worried. A call to the company brought apologies, and a new, complete kit was quickly dispatched. I was really impressed. Luckily, the second device worked flawlessly. I brushed my teeth with Go Smile AM that I received as part of a QVC Editor’s preview sample, and then set to work with the gel and the light source. Dial a Smile doesn’t have a toothpaste, but they do have a Super Booster Whitening Pen ($79.00) for whitening and maintenance, and a very lovely, Color Your Smile Lighted Lip Gloss ($38.00) that adds volume, shine and color to lips .
I should have taken before and after photos, but in my haste to try the device, I forgot the before. But based on the color wheel, my teeth became three shades whiter with the first treatment, and with a second, I earned another three shades. The result was a smile that looks naturally, impressively, visibly, whiter. A third treatment might have made them whiter still, but I was happy with the look after two treatments. One of the issues with teeth whitening products is that they can cause some issues such as tooth and gum sensitivity, but this treatment didn’t bother my teeth or gums in the least. If you did experience some irritation, you could just do one treatment, then wait a while before doing another. But for me, even two treatments done, one right after the other, wasn’t a problem.
If there is a downside, it’s that you have to wear the device in your mouth for 20 minutes. It isn’t uncomfortable, but there’s nothing to bite down on, so the device kept shifting a little bit (leaving some of the side teeth whiter on one side than the other). Of course, my phone kept ringing the entire time (so leave your answering machine on). There could be some drooling if you don’t keep that lighted device tightly in place, and if your lips are sensitive and you get gel on them, you might feel some stinging afterward. But all of this is minor, versus the results. One caveat: it appears that teeth whitening can be addictive. While a small amount of teeth whitening is perfectly safe, no one should bleach their teeth constantly.
This is a competitive world, and anyone who drinks coffee, red wine, who is a smoker, or who has just lived a little, is going to have stained or yellow teeth. While most of us don’t have to have chicklet-white smiles, getting rid of stains and making teeth look whiter and healthier, might just be the difference between success in finding a job or a soul mate. When you look good, you feel confident, and that’s an important part of success in life!
After the treatment(s) , you might want to show off your newly-whitening teeth with a great lip color. The Dial A Smile company offers the Color Your Smile Lighted Lip Gloss( $38.00). What makes these unique are the mirror on the side of the lipstick tube, and an actual light in the cap that automatically turns on when you pull out the sponge-tipped wand. This may not seem like a big deal, but the additional light really lets you see what you’re applying to your lips (and while you’re at it you can admire your white teeth). I have even resorted to using the lip gloss to light my way in the dark! While there are other, similar products on the market, these have collagen peptides to increase lip volume and reduce lip wrinkles, and moisturization. The volumizing lip gloss colors are very sheer but the shimmer is nice, and the formula is pampering and non-sticky. Choose shimmer peach, pink, or bronze.
If you just can’t budget the $400 for the big kahuna tooth whitening system, there is a more budget-friendly alternative: the SuperBooster Whitening Pen ($79.00).
This mighty, little pen, freshens breath, kills bacteria and within two weeks of regular use, you can also get your teeth up to 7-10 shades lighter. It even works while you sleep. All you have to do it paint it on, and wait a while. It can also be used for maintenance, and it’s great for travel. You’ll need more patience, but if you don’t mind leaving a product on your teeth for a few hour or while you’re sleeping, and you are on a budget, it’s a workable, worthwhile alternative.
Whitening Lightning is so sure you’ll love the results from their products, they offer a money back guarantee. If you are dissatisfied with any product purchased and paid for through their website, no matter what your reason, you can return it within 14 days for a full refund. Get these amazing products at: http://www.whiteninglightning.com/
