Right: back to the battle against acronyms and smileys. It's like the war on terror, but slightly m...
Right: back to the battle against acronyms and smileys. It's like the war on terror, but slightly more pedantic. And worthwhile.
Member since:12.06.2005
Reviews:79
Members who trust:226
I'm a smoker. Yep, I know - it's not big and it's not clever. Anyway, as a reult of this and the occasional (daily counts as occasional doesn't it?) red wine, my teeth are less than gleaming. I had enquired about whitening from my dentist, but the cost was prohibitive and he told me that as a smoker my teeth would be a gunky yellow colour again six months after the treatment, and that it would be a better idea to buy a whitening toothpaste or a whitening gel. He recommended Brilliant as he said it contained enough sodium hydroxide to actually have a noticeable effect.
I bought my box in superdrug,
where it cost £9.99 on promotional offer. The box is about the same size as a large paperback, but a bit deeper. The packaging is classy - purple and white with the title in silver. There's a picture of a couple with glow in the darkwhite teeth on the front. According to the box you'll get 30 applications. The box contains an accelerator liquid, the whitening gel, and a whitening toothpaste. There's also a little gumshield applicator called a duplex tray and a shade guide. The manufacturers recommend it to be used twice a day for 5-10 minutes.
Down to the nitty gritty. First you need to brush your teeth gently with water to get rid of any food debris. Then you prepare the duplex tray with a squeeze of the whitening gel on the upper and lower reservoirs and set aside to be used in step 2. You then use the accelerator pen (which contains a watery clear liquid) on all the teeth you want whitened by gently rubbing it over the surface. At this stage you need to grin like an idiot, as closing your lips will rub off the accelerator liquid. Next you put the pre-prepared duplex tray in you mouth making sure the curved part points upwards, and close your teeth. I found that at this stage it's best to move your jaws around a little, to make sure all teeth are covered by the gel. The gel should be left on for 5-10 minutes. When the time is up remove the duplex tray and get rid of any residual gel by brushing with water and rinsing well. The final step is to brush with the whitening toothpaste which tastes not unlike that funny pink watery rinse you get given in the dentist's.
For most people results will be visible in 7 days, although the manufacturers warn it can take up to 14 days if you're an 80 a day smoker with a serious liquorice and coca-cola habit. By seven days people were noticing something different about me. I never achieved a real Hollywood megawatt smile (thank goodness) but it did make enough of a difference for me to be pleased with the reults. Going on the shade guide my teeth lightened by four shades, from a 7 to a 3.
On the negative side, it is a bit of a fiddly business and you will look ridiculous while you have the tray in. The whitening gel tastes really unpleasant and the texture's not too nice either. I found that my teeth were almost too clean after each application - every time I'd close them they'd catch and scrape together unpleasantly. This sensation wore off after about half an hour though. I didn't experience any pain, but I wouldn't recommend eating or drinking anything for half an hour or so after each application as it made my teeth a little sensitive (again, the sensitivity wears off). To retain the whiteness you need to keep using the system, but I've found that one or two applications a week keeps me ticking over nicely. The ingredients list reads like a GCSE chemistry textbook, so I think it would be wise to try very hard not to swallow while you're applying the system.
The product will not affect fillings, crowns or caps and should not be used by those wearing braces, pregnant women or nursing mothers, anyone under 18, those with any kind of gum infection or sensitive teeth.
I recommend it with some reservations. Mainly, the ingredients. Make sure you check carefully to make sure you haven't had any adverse reactions or allergies in the past (I ran it past my dentist, who okayed it for me). Also, the taste of the gel really is unpleasant, much like experiencing the flavours of the dentist's in the comfort of your own bathroom.
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My trouble is my front teeth have white fillings and they are no longer white and none of these things work on that
hughesmonger 02.06.2009 02:33
Great review. ^_^
carcraig 06.11.2008 21:07
For me it's red wine and chocolate, but given the choice, I've rather have slightly yellow teeth than give those up, so I might need to try this. Good review, caroline xx
very helpful by (92%):
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