Teeth whitening - home kit for around 50 quid or go to the dentist for about 300?

[soupfiend]

Whats best to do?

My teeth look very yellow

Crest is the best but in 2020 they made a change to their formulation or strips and they always slide of your teeth now... If you can get them to stay on, they're highly effective after 10-15 consecutive days of use.

As posted in earlier links it is illegal to sell these in U.K. , EU and many other countries because they do not have a safe amount of hydrogen peroxide. I have posted links earlier but this is what WHICH the consumer organisation has to say

Illegal whitening kits being peddled to unsuspecting UK consumers
We bought products from two sites that on first appearance seem to be UK-based retailers - www.ukteethwhitening.com and www.crestwhitening.co.uk.
Both sell Crest Whitening Strips that are available in the US but aren't approved for sale in the UK as they contain well over the legal limit of hydrogen peroxide here.

Procter & Gamble, which manufactures Crest whitening strips, does not authorise their sale in the UK because it knows they do not comply to the regulations.
We investigated, and found that one of the companies selling the product to UK consumers is based in Hong Kong and the other, Canada. Both are using UK fulfilment centres to get around regulations, as both products we ordered arrived within 48 hours of ordering.
The products came with no instructions and were unboxed. The Crest strips from www.crestwhitening.co.uk had no ingredients list. This presents further risk as you don't have the information to use them correctly and don't really know what you're getting.
We reported our findings to Trading Standards who confirmed that these products are non-compliant and are now investigating further action.
Neither retailer responded when we approached them for comment.

My dentist has an offer on currently for teeth whitening (trays and gel) for £199 which was less than I thought. My daughter booked it when she had a check up. The dentist said she would be a good candidate, no fillings yet etc.

I looked into this with my dentist a few weeks back, I was absolutely shocked that it was about £300 each for upper/lower trays, so £600 altogether! Which seems a ridiculous sum to me. I've seen the posts above about the risks of at home strips before (I presume posted by a dentist...) but I know quite a lot of people who use the at home strips and have never heard of anyone having a problem. I'm still tempted tbh but if my dentist had a good offer on I would probably go for that just to be on the safe side.

My teeth started looking whiter when I started using a sonic toothbrush. Mine are very yellow too and it's because my (faulty) enamel is wearing out.

I could say I have seen a lot of damage from people trying to whiten their teeth at home , including an 18 year old girl with beautiful, unfilled teeth who ended up having a root canal treatment on a top front tooth , but you have no proof that is true.

So instead I attach a link about someone who ended up in hospital after using crest strips , which are illegal .
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3193597/Sales-assistant-22-got-hole-throat-nearly-died-using-tooth-whitening-kit-try-smile-like-Channing-Tatum.html

Have you been to the hygienist recently? I hadn't been to the dentist for years and thought I needed whitening, but I went for a check up and they recommended a hygienist visit, which I took. The difference was night and day and I don't feel I need whitening now. The hygienist was £80 and it took 30 minutes.

Edited to add: I've never had my teeth whitened, but was disappointed to hear from my debrief that it only lasts about 6 months before you have to do it again.

I see the hygienist every 6 months

So if you have fillings, you can't get your teeth whitened?

If you have fillings or crowns on your front teeth they won’t whiten , so would have to be replaced to match after whitening .

But fillings are inside the teeth anyway aren't they? Why would it matter?
I have black fillings that I'd ideally replace with white ones anyway.

Money? Convenience? Time?

Im walking past my dentist tmorrow so I will pop in and ask. No point trying to phone, they are allergic to answering the phone, or replying to messages.

How well did it work? I’m having the moulds done on Monday.

I've used Pola Night. Recommended by my dentist flowing teeth straightening. Makes teeth very sensitive for a bit but just use toothpaste for sensitive teeth and strengthening enamel. Really pleased with the results.

If you have fillings or crowns that show on your front teeth they, instead of matching the tooth they become more obvious and need replacing , a bit like this filling.

Hopefully bought from your dentist, not the internet as it is illegal and many sellers sell concentrations that are so strong they are illegal even for dentists to use.
SDI the manufacturers of polanight have launched quite a few legal actions against sellers of counterfeit gels and resellers of gels over the counter, as have trading standards. https://www.tradingstandards.uk/news-policy-campaigns/news-room/2016/teeth-whitening-prosecution-success/

I’m very happy with the results, it mainly cleans stains but does result in white teeth. You can touch up at home as often as needed too

Good to know and thank you for sharing. How truly awful.

The dentist also recommended the lower strength whitening gel of the two they provide as he said he'd tried the other and had found it too painful.