At-home teeth whitening: does it work? {& giveaway!}
Full disclosure: I've never been entirely happy with the color of my teeth. They've always just been a LITTLE bit yellow. I'm not sure why—I rarely drink tea, I don't drink coffee, and I enjoy wine only every so often—but they've always been that way.
So when I received the chance to try out a teeth whitening kit from Smile Brilliant, then, I definitely accepted the offer.
When you sign up for a kit from Smile Brilliant, the first thing they will ask you to do is make a mold of your teeth—they will then use this to make your custom retainer. I thought the retainer was going to be similar to the one I wear at night (yes, I wore braces as a kid) but it's actually much more floppy/malleable.
The process of making the molding isn't hard, but you might want to have some Kleenex nearby ... I'll admit I was drooling a little during it, because you have to keep the mold in your mouth for a few minutes.
Once you have the mold, you send it back to the company, in a prepaid envelope, and 5-10 days later, they will send you back your retainer. Now you are ready to start whitening.
In the picture above, there are two syringes, one orange and one purple. To start whitening, you put a small film of the orange (whitening) gel into your retainer, both the top and bottom pieces. I usually kept the retainer on for about an hour, but you can do it anywhere from 45 minutes to 3 hours.
Afterwards, I rinsed the retainer out, brushed my teeth WITHOUT toothpaste, put the gel from the purple syringe (desensitizing gel) into the retainer, and left the retainer on for another 15-20 minutes.
I am always a little skeptical with whitening systems (especially whitening toothpaste, which NEVER seems to work for me) but the results speak for themselves. "Before" pictures are from April 3, 2018, and "after" pictures are from May 14, 2018—the system only takes 7-14 applications, but I was traveling during late April and early May, so I believe I did about 9 applications total.
Front teeth:
Right side:
I was impressed with the results, and I asked my parents if they could see a difference and they said they could as well.
You can read more about Smile Brilliant at their website, as well as on this handy PDF they sent me.
Have you ever tried a professional teeth whitening system? If so, how did it go for you?
GIVEAWAY and DISCOUNT CODE:
One of my lucky readers will win a $149 Smile Brilliant credit!
If you are the winner, you can either order a T3 Sensitive Kit ($149) for free, or use your $149 credit towards the T6 Sensitive Kit ($175), which is the product I reviewed here. {click here to see all of Smile Brilliant's teeth whitening kit options}
The giveaway will end in one week (on May 22) and is open to USA, UK, Australian, and Canadian residents.
Smile Brilliant is responsible for prize fulfillment.
Good luck!
*And if you'd prefer to purchase your teeth whitening kit now, or you don't win the giveaway: use code yesnodetroit20 for 20% off your kit!
