I’m having my teeth professionally whitened this week

[Thinkle]

Over the last 10 years I’ve gone from utter certainty I don’t need this and a bit of an eye roll at the trend to becoming more conscious of my teeth and now I think they are the thing that age me the most. I can probably blame Zoom calls, UHD TV and social media.

When I was researching this I found a few mumsnet threads of various ages but actually not as many as I thought. So if people are interested and would find it helpful I can do a kind of diary of how I get on and answer any question you have.

Oooh best of luck! Hope it’s all straight forward and not too painful

@psuedocream3

I've had mine done at dentist, you have to go for check up and clean first. They offer the phillips zoom whitening treatment and it goes on offer twice a year for £160 for the trays and gel. You just buy the gel once a year for around £60 I think, the kit comes with sensitivity gel too. I've moved dentists so I'm going to have to possibly have the full kit price to pay again, but the results are worth it and I didn't have any senitivity.

Just as an aside, the law changed many years ago to regulate tooth whitening treatment products so that only licensed professionals can prescribe ones over 0.1%, anything bought from a shop shelf will not do anything for whitening.

How do you find out about the sale? I am interested

How are you op?

Just back and absolutely delighted
Long process and rather boring being hooked up to the lamp but they achieved 5 shades and I have trays for a few days so more to come. Looks very natural IMO.

Absolutely no sensitivity or pain and I’m actually drinking something with ice now.

My main reflections are:
Do it
Make sure your lips are moisturised as the brace thing stretches them
Take headphones and music/podcasts
Make sure you are lying comfortably when the machine is attached as you will be like that for 15 minutes.

I have had the in chair Zoom whitening twice.
It takes 1- 2 hours.
It worked really well but only lasted 3 years.

It did make my teeth more sensitive.
I was able to go through all the rounds (3 or 4) because luckily they were not sensitive to begin with so my advice to anyone getting it would be make sure youve done what you can to reduce tooth sensitivity beforehand, there are toothpastes etc.

I had mine done last year , best £300 I've ever spent !

Ooh. Following. I have the sensitivity issue too, but would love to lift a couple of shades.

Oh you’ve already done it. Did they do anything extra to mitigate the sensitivity issue?

They gave me a sensitive toothpaste to use for two weeks while my plate was being made . I haven't had any sensitivity! I swear it took ten years off me as my teeth were straight , just yellowed!

That sounds straightforward. I’m very tempted.

Following because this is something I am considering

Teeth whitening for me was amazing. I did the at home and the difference it made really was unbelievable. Such a boost. You'll be delighted with the results

I did mine with trays at home five years ago and my teeth have gone back to yellowy now, probably worse than before, but I haven’t topped them up. I drink tea but not coffee and red wine very occasionally, but I notice now that red wine really stains my teeth so they must be more porous after the treatment. I still have the trays so this thread is inspiring me to try them again - wonder if the gel has a use-by date…

op please can we see a before/after shot of your teeth??

I’m considering sharing a photo but I’m irrationally worried about people will recognise my teeth. I still have 3 days of home whitening to go too so I’ll try and replicate the lighting conditions from my before shot after I have finished those.
For now If you look up a Zoom chart I went from an 11 to a 5 or 6 and the day trays will take it a bit further.
It’s a really natural colour still and I think it makes me look younger and not like obvious “work”
I really am absolutely delighted and the first day tray was a doddle.

@Thoosa

Oh you’ve already done it. Did they do anything extra to mitigate the sensitivity issue?

I think the zoom product has something in it to address sensitivity but the only discomfort I had during the process was from lying still and from the mouth stretching gizmo. Advised to use sensitive toothpaste (I already do anyway) if I had a problem. During the initial consultation they mentioned that the night trays are better than day trays for those with sensitive teeth if they are doing the 100% home whitening. I hated the idea of sleeping with trays but now I have them I know they are very thin and I could easily sleep in them.

Thanks @Thinkle. I think I’m going to go ahead and book.

I am happy to show before/after
Apologies as my teeth are awful and I hate them!

@MaybeHeIsMyCat that’s a brilliant result! Your teeth look great. Thanks for sharing.

@MaybeHeIsMyCat your teeth look great. I would say mine are a very similar transformation.
But I have to ask, why do you hate them, they are nice and straight, and look great.

I had in-office whitening, I am in the US so they were very white, but I can honestly say I had the same results from crest white strips.

[quote Thinkle]@MaybeHeIsMyCat your teeth look great. I would say mine are a very similar transformation.
But I have to ask, why do you hate them, they are nice and straight, and look great.[/quote]
I think it's just a thing I have, some are crooked and my bite is off as well (my wisdom teeth hit first before anything else). And I grind them

Following as I would be interested in this. I have two fillings in my two front teeth as I chipped them when I was a lot younger and I'm worried whether the whitening would also work on that. Has anyone had a similar issue?

I have been paranoid about my teeth for years. I still remember someone at school mentioning the colour of my teeth and would love to get them 'fixed'.

@MrsPToBe123

Following as I would be interested in this. I have two fillings in my two front teeth as I chipped them when I was a lot younger and I'm worried whether the whitening would also work on that. Has anyone had a similar issue?

I have been paranoid about my teeth for years. I still remember someone at school mentioning the colour of my teeth and would love to get them 'fixed'.

So I actually have a small chip that I’ve decided to get addressed. You can’t lighten composite so my choice was to either match the composite to the existing colour or to whiten first and then match the composite to the new colour. This is ultimately what pushed me to go for it. I don’t think that means there are no options for you but it’s definitely something to discuss with the dentist.

I had enlighten whitening done in December and my teeth are now mostly shade b1. It worked better on my top row than bottom row though. I've bought top up whitening gels from a different dentist practice as my original dentist for enlighten whitening said they didn't sell top up gels and to get zoom whitening yearly instead. I kind of felt fobbed off by this as I could afford top up gels yearly but not zoom. My advice is to anyone getting teeth whitening done is to double check your dentist will sell you top up gels afterwards! I also couldn't really tell the difference between my teeth before and after whitening (phone cameras didn't show a noticeable difference either) though my family could see some difference and the dentist's photos showed a change. So I went to that second practice to also get a reassuring second opinion where they confirmed my teeth were b1. The first dentist claiming top up gels weren't available really made me reconsider whether I could trust them and their judgment.