Be very careful with these!

I used a couple of those at home products as well as baking soda and now I have sensitive teeth! I have to use the expensive "Sensodyne" toothpaste or I'm miserable.

My dentist says that I have particularly thin enamel on my teeth as well as a stress/grinding problem and the combination of those two things left my teeth very vulnerable to the whitening products.

Now I'm sure to floss everyday and do a quick rinse with Plax before I use my Sonicare toothbrush (Xmas gift to the family from my mom!). My teeth are getting whiter and they don't hurt much anymore either.

I would talk to your dentist before you use any over the counter whitener to find out if you are a good candidate for it.

My husband has stained teeth from heavy use of Tetracycline antibiotics in his teen years and no amount of bleaching will whiten his teeth again. He'll have to get them capped or veneered. :-(

Keli

I wondered about that. I tried to use a kit that I got from my dentist, and I ended up with white, **sensitive** teeth. I was waondering if the OTC was any less irritating.

I thought that the tetracycline was only a problem if you took it while the teeth were forming (i.e. before permanent teeth came in?) My DH took it too, and his teeth are fine.

My Mom's teeth have been looking very white lately. I asked her if she used a whitener, and she said the only thing different is that she switched to the Crest spin brush (from a regualar, manual toothbrush.) I'm convinced that electric toothbrushes make a difference.

Be careful with the whitening toothpaste. It's been 20 years since my dentist told me I ruined the enamel on my teeth by using whitening toothpaste. He said never to use any toothpaste that doesn't have the dentist's seal on it. My teeth are never white - dentist says I need to have them covered with something that last about 2 years and costs $1,000. Sorry - not for me. Don't have the extra money and if I did, I'd spend it on something else.

I had used baking soda and also peroxide over the years and they both got rid of tea/coffee stains but not nearly as well as the new products. I used forever white (from an infomercial) about a year ago and saw dramatic results (about $39) More recently I used Crest white strips ($35). I did the top teeth only out of curiosity and saw dramatic results again after a couple weeks. What I like is that these products are not abrasive like whitening toothpastes. I would strongly recommend the new products - my friend got a kit from her dentist for $350 and I didn't think it worked any better than the over the counter.

I got my teeth whitened at my dentist's office. They were running a special for $100.00 and all the proceeds went to the Spokane Guild School which is a special school for children with major disabilities. So it was a great thing . . . I am not afraid to spend money when it is for a good cause plus I got the benefit of white teeth. It worked great and I haven't noticed any sensitivity. I follow up with the over the counter whitener and I am very happy and love having a white smile.

Brenda

Should one expect a discount if one has only 8 teeth?

Or - maybe find someone else whose mouth has only a few residents and pass on the rest of the treatment for half price?

Can't be too frugal, can one?

(On the other hand, there may be limits).

ole joyful with the crooked smile

Asked my dentist yesterday at my checkup (wished I had asked before buying a tube of Rembrandt)

He said the only OTC brand they recommend is crest whitening strips. He said this is because it's the only brand that will fully disclose their ingredients.

I asked him about the ADA seal on Rembrandt, and he says that only means that it contains Fluoride. Doesn't guarantee whitening, and in fact, he said they usually don't result in teeth being whiter than with ordinary toothpaste.

My dental hygenist told me that Crest is beginning to market a "professional" strength whitening strip. Basically it's the same as the OTC only stronger and will be available only through your dentist's office. Plus, she said it will be cheaper than what it costs to buy the OTC strips. She said lots of people have had good success with these strips, so ask your dentist if they can get some for you.

Guess that's what I will do, wait for the strips to come to the dentist. wonder if coffee drinking stains them faster, probably but I won't give up my coffee!

Artmom, I'm a fanatic coffeeholic! But my teeth have stayed white. The stuff they use at the dentist really is strong and once they are white the over the counter stuff seems to be all I need to keep them that way. I just use "Optiwhite" toothwhitening gel that I got at Walmart for under $5.00. I mix it with regular toothpaste, as I can stand the taste and use it everytime I brush. So far, a year after the professional whitening, my teeth are still really white. And there's no way I'd give up my coffee! LOL!

Brenda

Another thing I am wondering about, I have an implant on my front tooth. I have been told the whitening stuff will work on real teeth but not the implant tooth material. So if I lighten my real teeth the implant will look dirty because it was matched to my real original tooth coloration.
I used some sort of toothpaste that made my gums supersensitive (and my husband's) and made my gums bleed. My dentist said to stop using it, Crest rejuvenating effects.

My husband is going to have his tooth re-capped and they will color it to the whiteness the dentist is thinking his teeth will be after whitening them. Apparently they have some way to judge this, but I don't understand it. He still is in braces (at 37!) so we can't do any of it yet. So my guess is your dentist will match your whitening to your implant. You are right though, you wouldn't want your teeth brighter than your implant. If your implant is very yellowed, you might check on having it resurfaced.

Brenda