“Sharp Pain, Negligible Results”

When I arrived at the dentist, the attendant and I had a pre-procedure meeting where she determined my teeth would be a good candidate for whitening as I do not smoke/drink coffee. I was looking forward to the procedure as it was "on sale" for $300 instead of $600. The first 20-minute session was fine. Towards the end of the second 20-minute session, I was experiencing repeated brief (30-60sec) nerve pain in several of my lower teeth. For the third 20-minute session, I asked the attendant to set the timer for only 10 minutes. She did, and I am SO GLAD I made that request - by the end of my 10 minutes, I was pressing my head against the headrest trying to avoid the nerve pain. As I left, the attendant informed me (SURPRISE!) that I should only eat white or clear foods for the next 24 hours. This was not mentioned to me at any time before the procedure. Although I found out it was easy to do (tuna sandwich on white bread), it struck me as unprofessional to save that announcement for the end. Finally, for the next four hours, I experienced severe, intermittent pain in several teeth. This pain made me unable to speak and I often crouched over until it abated. I was grocery shopping at the time so there were many confused stares in the aisles! Now, one week later, I see NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE in my teeth color. Oh, but I'm $300 poorer.