Home teeth Whitening kits?

[fareastwarriors]

My teeth are increasingly yellow from all the cofee/tea/red wine I been drinking... Do you guys have any recommendations for home whitening kits? Does the strips work? How about the one with the tray (mouth guard like)?
I'm already using a whitening rinse and whitening toothpaste.


Thanks.

[gkaplan]

I'd quit drinking coffee, tea, and red wine.

[Abe]

My wife uses Crest 3D whitestrips. She gets it at Walmart. Cost about $43.00 per package, but she usually get $15.00 off with a coupon. She said is works well for her.

[englishgirl]

Crest white strips work well, but definitely look out for coupons. There seem to be coupons every week somewhere for $10 off.

[Grandpaboys]

I have been using Baking Soda and my teeth do look better, but not sparkle white.

[mike143]

These are the strongest you can get: Crest Whitestrips Supreme Professional Strength 84 strips

The top review is from a dentist. My buddy uses these and his teeth are abnormally white and was considering purchasing a second box.

The ones above are 14% the rest follow:

1. Crest White Strips Classic (6% hydrogen peroxide, 14-day treatment).
2. Crest White Strips Premium (10% hydrogen peroxide, 7-day treatment).
3. Crest White Strips Premium Plus (10% hydrogen peroxide, and has 12 additional strips).
4. Crest Pro Effects (10% hydrogen peroxide, 10-day treatment).
5. Crest Advanced Seal (10% hydrogen peroxide, 10-day treatment).
6. Daily Whitening Multicare (6% hydrogen peroxide, 5-minutes/day, 6-week supply)
7. Daily Whitening with Tartar Protection (6% hydrogen peroxide, 5-minutes/day, has a chemical that discourages tartar from attaching to the teeth, 38 upper and lower strips)

[Padlin]

My wife does the Crest strips and they work pretty good (don't know which ones). I use http://www.touchofwhitesmile.com/ which we think works/worked better. Takes a while to get going with the trays, you have to get the kit, then make the molds and send them back. A week or so later you get what they call the trays which are like mouth guards. Takes something an hour a day for 10 days or so to whiten then a few days every few months. So far so good. They are whiter but not white. If you read the small print they tell you to avoid coffee while you're doing the trays, best I did was wait a couple hours.

[mrpotatoheadsays]

Consumer Reports rated Crest 3D White Whitestrips With Professional Effects one of the best. I use it every six months after my regular dental checkup. My teeth are so white I glow in the dark.

[tainted-meat]

Get a bottle of peroxide, mix 1 part peroxide with 1 part water and swish at night after brushing.

[fsrph]

Consumer Reports rated Crest 3D White Whitestrips With Professional Effects one of the best.

I agree with this. I have tried cheaper versions of whitestrips, including store generic brands. And while they work they take longer to work and you seem to use them more often to keep the teeth white. Then I had a coupon for $10 or $15 off Crest Whitestrips Professional Effects. Definetly better than the cheaper ones in the following ways.

1. They stick to the teeth much, much better, especially the lower teeth. It seems the cheaper ones are much harder to keep on the botton teeth.

2. SInce they stick to the teeth better I use less on them. I could get by using 1/2 of the box of Professional effects to get my teeth very while. Then keep the other half for the next time I need them. So, I get 2 treatments from one box.

The Professional Effects are more money but when you consider the above they are a good value for your money. And look for coupons. Often they have $10 or $15 off coupons in the Sunday paper.

Francis

[hlfo718]

Be careful ordering this from Amazon. We did it once and the package was going to expire in less than two months. Better off getting it from Costco or Target so you can see the expiration date.

[donall]

Get a bottle of peroxide, mix 1 part peroxide with 1 part water and swish at night after brushing.

For best results, the bleaching solution should be in contact with the teeth for at least 30 minutes (hence the higher efficacy of custom trays vs strips). Peroxide swishing would probably not as effective. Peroxide used with baking soda (note high sodium content) to brush teeth was used an effective gingival cleanser years ago and dentists noticed that teeth became whiter. This led to current formulations of bleaching agents that have thickening polymers that stay in contact with the teeth longer.

[af895]

Consider going to a dentist and having a kit made for you. They'll take molds of your teeth and provide matched trays for applying the bleaching gel.

They run about $300-$350 and include enough of the gel for months of applications (several complete bleaching regimes).
Once you have the trays that fit your teeth, the extra gel is cheap to buy from the dentist (~$15 refills). The professional stuff does a much better job than off-the-shelf.

Full disclosure: I tried home bleaching kits (though not the most current, recommended variants) as well as going through several tubes of whitening toothpaste over a period of weeks. After seeing no results, I sprung to have my dentist build me a kit.

[2retire]

I'd be interested to hear from those that use the store bought stuff. How well does it work, how often do you have to use them to keep the whitening going, and what is your cost per year?

I had my teeth professionally whitened in a dentists office for about $700. If I recall, I went from a A4 to a B1 and I have since backed off to an A2. (http://www.pearldentalclinic.co.uk/shade-guide.html)

My dentist has a program where if you get checkups and cleanings every six months, he gives you free bleach that you use for two weeks after your cleaning. This is supposed to maintain your current color. If you could find a dentist like this, it might be cheaper than buying strips.

[rdmayo21]

Have you ever considered brushing with tumeric? : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffYTPtnA1yk

I actually tried this, and I definitely noticed a change after doing it only once.

[hicabob]

My dentist said teeth aren't supposed to be bright white - but it's a good moneymaker for her - It's quite surprising how far off bright white a typical cap is for "natural whiteness" teeth - which I think is why the dentists try to hide them from patients when fitting. Being the annoying type, I of course ask for a preliminary look before anything gets glued to me.

Be careful with the home whitening - apparently people can hurt their mouth and teeth.

[Mitchell777]

It depends on how stained they are and how your teeth react. You MAY need at least a dentist fit mouthpiece fit to your mouth and the stronger bleeching agent a dentist can provide, but try the OTC first. Or you may need to have a cosmetic dentist, or personal dentist, do power bleaching in the office (with or without the take home kit). Keep in mind that if you have any bonding material in the teeth that show when you smile, they will not whiten from the bleaching agent, while the surrounding teeth will. Also would advise a cleaning prior to using anything

[likegarden]

I wonder what the effect of bleaching is on the teeth over many years. Did those whiteners get tested over many years? Perhaps teeth will get brittle.. I use household bleach on garden tools, and they will rust when leaving the bleach on for 20 minutes. Therefore, I shy away from using a toothpaste with whitener, I buy one which fights gingivitis.
I do not drink tea and wine, I drink coffee and beer, and no need for whitening. Perhaps you need to switch to decaf coffee. In the past people got stained teeth from smoking.
Good luck!

[fareastwarriors]

I'd quit drinking coffee, tea, and red wine.

I definitely slowed down on those kind of drinks. I stopped drinking coffee and avoid the dark/black teas.
Thank you everyone for their input and I will try the Crest Whitestrips first to see how my teeth reacts. Thanks!

[Leesbro63]

I wonder what the effect of bleaching is on the teeth over many years. Did those whiteners get tested over many years? Perhaps teeth will get brittle.. I use household bleach on garden tools, and they will rust when leaving the bleach on for 20 minutes. Therefore, I shy away from using a toothpaste with whitener, I buy one which fights gingivitis.Good luck!

+1, especially on wondering

[btenny]

Strong whitening usually causes your teeth to get sensitive to cold and heat and have some discomfort when brushing. If you do the dentist route you will get good results but afterwards you will have sensitive teeth for a while. Brushing with Sensodine toothpaste makes this issue better and after 2 weeks or so it goes away in my experience.

The key is to get your teeth whitened before you have a tooth implant or some teeth capped or have a bridge made.

Bill