Teeth whitening

Okay, so after years of drinking coffee I have really stained my teeth. This became especially obvious after my latest modeling "gig" for Brocade. I just couldn't stand seeing my teeth in the picture, which actually looked brown. I knew my dentist did Zoom whitening, but when I found out the cost was $500, I decided to try the Crest Advanced Seal instead, since it had very good reviews.

On New Year's Eve, just before dinner, I took my "before" picture, and applied my first seal strip. It was very easy to apply, and I left it on for about 60 minutes hoping to increase the effectiveness. Then I happily ate my Mexican dinner. No one ever told me that the whiteners actually open your teeth up to more staining if you eat staining things right away. So of course, I saw no improvement the next day. In fact, though the box claims improvement after 3 days, I wasn't sure if the "slight" improvement I saw was real or due to the difference in lighting.

I continue with the strips for about 2 weeks. I still was not seeing results. One night, I decided to leave them on longer. Perhaps an hour again. (30 minutes is the recommendation). The next day, my inner lip seemed irritated. Moreover, my mouth felt extra sensitive and dehydrated. I constantly had the urge to lick my lips, which was very counterproductive. I went home and put globs of Vaseline on my lips, which helped a little. But the inside of my lip, where the peroxide probably leaked out of the seal, felt uncomfortable. And the worst thing is that when my mouth felt sensitive, my whole body felt sensitive, especially to sound. Think of the sound of someone scratching a chalkboard... that's how I felt. So that was the last day of my advanced seal. I thought that perhaps, in a few months, I would try again.

Then, I found out that I was rewarded $200 from Brocade for being featured on their website. My manager told me that I was supposed to spend $200, and that I would be reimbursed. I thought about what I would like to spend $200 on, and I immediately felt like professional zoom whitening would be very appropriate.

So on 2/2, the day before my birthday, I got my teeth whitened. The procedure itself went fine. 3 15 minutes treatments under the light, after my gums were prepped by the hygeniest. I listened to my iPhone the whole time.

The results weren't as dramatic as I had hoped. I was a little disappointed that my teeth couldn't be "Hollywood white". All my friends say, "You don't want your teeth that white." But I think, "Yes, I do." I think I'm just being obssessive about it I'm sure.

Still, I compare to my old pictures, and my teeth are definitely not brown or yellow any more. In fact, they look very white in the pictures, but I have probably re-stained them since then with my coffee habit.

But I should add that the procedure HURTTSSSS like crazy. It didn't hurt too much during the procedure, which happened at 9:00am. But by 1pm, I had to ask my manager to let me go home. There was no way I could get any work done with that kind of "zinging" pain which felt like cold air being blown onto open cavities all over my mouth. I went home and writhed in pain even with 2 ibuprofens and 2 tylenols. Finally, I asked my dentist for Vicodin at 9pm after ruining my birthday eve dinner (at the Cheesecake Factory). Thankfully, I got my prescription filled 5 minutes before the pharmacy closed. By 9:10, I was in bed. The pain was still there, but my brain must have been numbed, because the pain didn't bother me. I fell asleep and the next morning the pain was gone!

I've attached 3 photos. The first one was taken before Crest Advanced Seal. The 2nd one was after 14 days of Crest. And the last photo was taken after Power Zoom Whitening.