We all want the most brilliantly white teeth, and sometimes that means considering whitening products. But how are you to know which ones work and which ones do hardly anything? It can be tricky to figure out without doing a whole lot of research. As a general rule of thumb, these tooth whitening products aren’t worth your time on.
Pretty much anything in the supermarket aisle
Sure, you can see those products sitting on the shelves, promising a whitening experience – whitening toothpaste and what not. However, these products are generally a waste of time, and you won’t be able to tell much difference between using them and non-whitening products. This is because they are not strong enough to lift the colour of your teeth very much at all. The reason that they are not strong enough is because you are in a supermarket – strong whitening products are only available from a dentist because they are regulated.
Whitening products from eBay
Be very cautious when shopping on eBay or on other similar shopping websites. If you are buying whitening products with a specific peroxide concentration on eBay you want to make very, very sure that you trust the seller and trust that the product is exactly what it says it is. Your teeth are very precious and they need to last you a life time, so you don’t want to stuff them up simply because you bought something a little bit dodgy on eBay.
Baking soda
While baking soda is useful for removing stains on your teeth, it actually isn’t all that effective for whitening them. Baking soda is a great cleaning agent, but it alone cannot lift the colour of your teeth to a brilliant white, despite what your cousin’s friend’s mum told you about it being a miracle for teeth.
Celebrity endorsed tooth whitening products
Think your favourite celebrity got those brilliant whites from that product they’re chatting about on Instagram? Well, probably not. While they may use the product, they have likely been to the dentist for some professional whitening beforehand. Think about it this way – they are getting paid to sell this product, which may or may not mean they believe in it. While some celebs only sell products they really love, still others will do pretty much anything for a pay check, so keep this in mind when you see them telling you how much they love such and such a product.
If you want to whiten your teeth then the only real option is heading to the dentist to get it done professionally, other options not provided by a dentist are generally a waste of time. At the dentist, you can choose to either have your teeth whitened in the dentist’s chair, or you can pick up some professional strength take home products and a custom fitted mouth tray.
With the take home products, you are generally required to complete a course over a week to two weeks, with daily wear of the tray for around an hour or so. If you choose to get it done at the dentist’s, then it will generally take around an hour or so. It is cheaper to pick up the take home pack over doing whitening in the dentist’s chair at most dental practices. There are various different methods of in-chair whitening, and most are fairly successful. Do a little research into which in-chair method is going to be the best one for you. People with sensitive teeth should be warned that whitening may prove painful and to ask the dentist about which is the best for sensitive teeth.
