20 Years Old, Wanted A Brighter Smile - Appleton, WI

My teeth looked brighter and whiter for a few months afterwords but I would say after 6 months they were back to normal. If you find a good deal like I did and have your wedding coming up then, yes, I would recommend it. But if you are looking for long term whitening I would not recommend this treatment!

A little history about my teeth first. I got braces when I was in 5th grade, got them off right before 7th grade. Never have had a cavity in my life, got my wisdom teeth out when I was in 8th grade, and take pretty good care of my teeth. I use straws with everything I drink and haven't had a sip of soda since the last day of 7th grade. Because of all these factors my teeth weren't very stained. I have always used a toothpaste with "whitening" agents but nothing that was very expensive. I also have used crest white strips before things like homecoming and prom but other than that I don't really do anything special to keep my teeth white. To be honest I saw this on Groupon marked down from $495 to $179. I also had some sort of percent off on local deals so I got it for around $150. I know this doesn't sound like a very smart idea to do but I checked out the office and they seemed legitimate. I went in for a consulataion and the office was GORGEOUS. It had a very pretty lake view and lots of huge ceiling to floor windows. The dental hygienist assessed my teeth and decided I was a good canidate for the whitening. She then asked me when my last cleaning was and I told her I had a cleaning in 1 week. Apparently it is good to have a cleaning around the time before your whitening since your teeth will be more clean and the whitening will work better. Then she went over what the procedure would be like, how long it would take, the things I would need to do leading up to getting them whitened, and the after care. She then gave me a prescription tooth paste that would help my teeth strengthen up so they wouldn't be so sensitive with the procedure and also gave me a waver to look over and sign as well as an aftercare guide. I set up an appointment for 2 weeks later since thats how long you have to use the toothpaste for. The aftercare guide just talked about how for the first 48 hours not to eat food or drink with color in them. The day of the appointment I took ibuprofen about an hour before I was to arrive and I made sure to have a full stomach since I figured I would be hesitant to eat right after. I arrived and went back to the room and pretty much go started right away. The dental hygienist (Karen I believe) went over a couple things and made sure I was comfortable in the chair since I was going to be there for 2 hours. I put one of my earbuds in and listened to podcast. She started out by putting a vitamin e oil on my lips then put a retractor on, put cotton rods around my gums, and then started to put the liquid dam on. She spent about half an hour making sure that every single part of my gums were protected. Then she put the whitening gel on and put the light over my teeth. She stayed around the room the whole time and asked me if I was having any sensitivity. I believe these were 15 minutes long. After the first session she came back in and I hadn't had any sensitivity yet. She put new gel on and put the light over and we repeated the process. This time I did have a few "zingers" but when Karen came back in she said that sometimes younger people only can do 2 sessions since they have too much sensitivity. So when she asked if I had any singers I nodded no. They were not that bad at all and beauty is pain. We did the third session and when she asked if I had any sensitivity I lied again and said no because she was very hesitant about doing the 4th one so since I said I had no sensitivity she decided we could do the 4th. The 4th was the worst of them all but I just dealt with it. She then cleaned them off with lukewarm water (thank GOD since cold water would not have felt good) took out all the crap in my mouth and then showed me my teeth! They looked whiter for sure but that strange part was that they looked brighter. Thats the main difference I noticed. She gave me some desensitizing gel, went over the food list and sent me on my way. The second I got in my car I put on a crap ton of chapstick and put on the desensitizing gel right away since I was in so much pain. For some reason during the procedure it wasn't that bad but the second my teeth got rehydrated they were pissed. I'm sure it wouldn't have hurt that bad if I would have been honest about the pain but again I just wanted white teeth lol. I took ibuprofen every 6 hours that day and stopped at walmart to get this gel and let me tell you it was amazing. It numbed up my lips and tongue a bit too but thats what made me get through the rest of the day without that much pain. The next morning my teeth didn't hurt at all and were just a bit sensitive to hot and cold things. Now its been 2 days since the whitening and I have no sensitivity at all! Overall I am very happy with my experience! The annoying pain is very worth it to have teeth this white. (: