Hi Friends!
We all have physical aspects about ourselves that we don't particularly like and for me, it's my teeth. Despite five grueling years of braces as a teenager, they're still crocked. They're also faded and stained. Although I have used whitening strips on and off in the past, they've always remained yellowish. I've found that whitening strips haven't been effective for me primarily because my teeth are crooked and the whitening can't get into the nooks and crannies to whiten evenly.
Before Treatment
Needless to say, I'm very self-conscious about my teeth. I'm always trying to hide them anytime I talk to people. I find I don't like smiling too big either because I don't want others to see them. In my head, I think if I don't want to see them, why would someone else? I'm sure the average person doesn't even pay attention, but as usual we are more critical of ourselves especially when it comes to our personal flaws.
When I was contacted about trying a tooth whitening product from Smile Brilliant, I was eager to try it hoping it would improve the whiteness of my teeth. If it's going to make my teeth look better and boost my self-confidence, then it's certainly worth trying. I hadn't heard of Smile Brilliant so I'm guessing you might not have either.
In a nutshell, Smile Brilliant allows you to do professional tooth whitening treatment at home. The professional strength whitening you would receive at a dentist office but for a much lower cost and less hassle. Tooth whitening treatments at a dentist can cost upwards of $600 whereas these range $120 - $160 depending on the package you select.
The ways it works is Smile Brilliant mails you a kit that includes molds, base & catalysts to make your impressions, prepaid envelope for sending the molds to the lab, tooth whitening gels, desensitizing gels, a gel brush and step by step instructions. The desensitizing gels are a small additional cost, but in my opinion, they're definitely worth it. My teeth have always been a bit on the sensitive side and since I never had a tooth whitening treatment I wasn't really sure what to expect. Better safe than sorry, right? The gels also seal the pores in your teeth's enamel allowing the tooth whitening to penetrate deeper into the enamel.
The coolest part of the process is making the dental impressions. You mix the two pastes, place the paste in the mold, put in your mouth for two minutes, then allow them to get firm ~30 minutes before rinsing under cold water to set. It's really easy and the step-by-step instructions included in the kit makes it full proof to follow so you can make your impressions in the comfort of your home in just a few minutes. They also provide you with extra paste which comes in handy when you mess up like I did the first time around. Someone likes to play with their play dough a little too much!
Once your dental impressions set, you place both of them in a prepaid envelope to ship to the lab where your custom-fitted teeth whitening trays are made. Each mold contains a barcode that allows the lab to track which customer the molds and trays belong to. When you send your impressions to the lab, you fill out a return card with your name and shipping address. The card includes your customer barcode as well to ensure you get the right teeth whitening trays returned to you that correspond to your teeth.
What you get back are your very own custom-fitted teeth whitening trays that come in a convenient travel case. My trays took just a little over a week to get back from the lab. Not bad turn around, right? The impressions also include a two year replacement warranty which is good for someone like me who has a tendency to misplace things like that.
Once you have your trays, that's when the whitening magic begins. Both the whitening and desensitizing gels come in easy-to-use syringes that you use to fill the trays. Then you place the trays in your mouth and wait as the whitening gel does its magic. After you're done, you fill the trays with desensitizing gels, place in your mouth for another 15-30 minutes and remove. Again, there's step-by-step instructions included that walk you through everything and I found them to be quite simple.
The first time I did a treatment I kept the whitening trays on 30 minutes to test how sensitive my teeth were since I wasn't having any issues I left them on another 30 minutes (for 60 minutes total). Each treatment can be as long as you want it to be, but they recommend an hour. You can drink or eat anything during the treatment or for 30 minutes after. I found that to be a bit tricky because living in the desert it's pretty hot and water is a necessity every 5 minutes but truthfully, it's a minor inconvenience.
Mom also did the whitening treatment. She experienced much more sensitivity issues than I did, but thankfully it was only the first two treatments. It just shows that every individual is different and can have a different reaction to the whitening treatment. By the way, she's never had braces a day in her life and her teeth are perfectly straight. Now why didn't I get these genes? Life is so not fair sometimes!
After 7 treatments, was when I saw a big difference in the color of my teeth. I not only noticed they were whiter, but they were also shinier and more vibrant. The biggest different I noticed was on my cuspids (the big pointy canine teeth). Those have always been darker than my other teeth. Like I mentioned earlier, whitening strips never helped because my teeth were n't straight enough for the whiten strips to sit into the crevices of those teeth to whiten. The custom trays definitely worked much better for getting at those teeth. They're not perfectly white, but certainly much whiter than when I started treatments.
For the treatment, I did 3 syringes which equals 9 to 12 whitening sessions. I got exactly 9 sessions out mine. I'm planning to order additional whitening gels for future treatments too. You can order either 3, 6 or 9 depending on how many treatments you want at a very reasonable cost.
You can see more before and after pictures and reviews at Smile Brilliant. I'm telling you guys, some of the pictures are pretty incredible!
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Have you ever whitened your teeth? What's one thing about yourself that you're self-conscious about?
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Disclaimer - This post is sponsored by Smile Brilliant. While I received free teeth whitening treatments, all opinions and statements are my own.
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Your teeth look amazing!! I have this system too, and noticed that my gums were SUPER sensitive. It gives me hope that your mom got over it, I've been able to do 15 min max!! I've always wanted to whiten my teeth but refused to pay $300 at the dentist because I love my morning coffee that stains them all to hell! xx
My Mom's was sensitive the first few times, but then it calmed down. It's so interesting how everyone reacts differently.
I reviewed them earlier this year and loved the system!
Right? I plan to keep doing it.
I'm self conscious about my teeth since I've had a bunch of problems with them in the past - looks like a great product!
I totally understand the teeth problems. I liked that I could do this at home without the fuss of going to a dentist.