July 28th, 2006
White Teeth (for pennies!)
Have you ever whitened your teeth - either through the dentist, or with any of the products on the shelf at Target? I have. I’ve used Crest White Strips (that slosh around in your mouth and taste icky) and Rembrandt (with the tray you warm and mold to your mouth and the tube of goo you put in there.)
(I’ve never paid the big giant bucks to get the super wizzah dentist-only version. I think the difference is a custom tray and a higher percentage of the “active ingredient.”)
My dad sent me an email listing the many powers of hydrogen peroxide. One of the suggestions was to put a capful in your mouth and hold it there for 10 minutes to whiten your teeth. You could do it while you shower, or whenever you have 10 continuous minutes when you don’t have to talk.
I already knew that the “active ingredient” in the whitening kits (including the dentist’s kind) is hydrogen peroxide. In fact, I’m not sure it’s not the only ingredient, besides plastic, so I figured I would try it.
It was so easy! Almost effortless. It didn’t taste like much of anything; It foamed up in my mouth pretty quickly and it wasn’t hard to hold in there. (When I did it while on the computer the time just flew by, as always happens on the computer.)
And, it works great! I can see the difference after each time; at least as much as, if not more than, I’ve seen after each use of the whitening kits.
And, IT GETS EVERY SURFACE OF YOUR MOUTH AT ONCE. Not just the 12 teeth in the front of your mouth, but EVERYWHERE!
Neither of the kits I’ve tried is a whole lot of fun to use, and you have to do them for at least 10 minutes each time. It is arguably easier to do the capful of peroxide! It takes seconds, no positioning or adjusting - you’re immediately treating your entire set of teeth.
A $20 kit is probably well over 100 times more money. (I think most kits are over that price.) I would tolerate a bit of annoyance to save that kind of cha-ching, but I really feel like this is actually easier and not any more unpleasant to use.
If you have never whitened before you should be aware that you might get a zing of sensitivity here and there. It hasn’t happened to me with the peroxide - in fact it only happened the first time I used the Crest Strips. They tell you in the instructions to brush with a fluoride toothpaste or use a fluoride rinse, like Act. (I think mine went away on its own within a few seconds.)
Also, I might not do it more than two times in the same day, because it could eventually be irritating to the inside of your mouth; although probably no harm done. (If I was going to be in a wedding or on TV or something, I might fling caution to the wind and do it several times in one day.)
July 29th, 2006 at 3:32 pm
Hey Helenore, My dentist told me not to slosh hydrogen peroxide around in my mouth because it does something bad to the inside of it–strips, irritates, something unhealthy. Yep, understanding the benefits and uses of peroxide (aka developer if you’re a hairdresser) I thought of peroxide mouthwash/teethwash too. But anyways—look, I’m reading your BLOG! FYI, we couldn’t access the “Pressure Point Massage” from Ken’s blog.
July 29th, 2006 at 5:31 pm
Hey Veronica - you ARE reading my blog! Wow. Thanks for coming and commenting.
I can vouch for the “irritates” because it did a bit - but I did it three times in one day, so I guess it would have to be a paid gig on TV to get me to do it many more times in a single day.
I guess (haven’t looked) that the bottle says it can be used as mouth rinse. I’m still gonna do it, but just maybe once a day; or once in the morning and once after dinner. (I didn’t even wait an hour in between each time.)
Also, like whitening kits, it’s not something I’ll do everyday forever - just for a week or so until my teeth are dazzlingly white. A few shades under yours, that is ;-)