Wedding Blog

Whenever I think about my teeth, a certain commercial comes to mind. I’m not exactly sure what the commercial was for but I think it was for a whitening toothpaste. In the commercial, a grade school teacher is addressing her classroom. She is pointing out objects in the room and the children respond with the color of the object in unison.

“What color is this pencil?”
“Yellowww”.
“What about this book?”
“Greeeennn”

Then she asks the class, “What color are my teeth?” with a huge smile on her face.

The class sits in dead silence for a few seconds while the kids try to figure out the color. One by one the kids try to guess.

“Ivory”
“Cream”

Then you see a closeup of a little girl who says, “Mother. of. Pearl.”

It was a long time ago but it still cracks me up when I think about that little girl. She comes to mind when I look in the mirror and realize that my teeth could use a makeover, and it’s been on my mind a little more often these days now that the wedding is getting closer.

In the past I’ve tried Crest Whitestrips but they make my teeth sensitive so I upgraded to GoSmile, which I have to admit is the best, most convenient, and really really works. But I notice that these days, those light technology teeth whitening booths in malls seem to be all the rage. I was curious, but the $145 dollar price tag was holding me back. Then I realized—one package of GoSmile runs for about $89 before tax. You really have to get at least two packages to see a huge difference and before you know it you are spending $180. What if the light technology works? I will be spending $145 for teeth that are up to 5 shades whiter in just 15 minutes! Yes, I admit I’m a bit of spaver! but I decided to try it with one of my BMs, who was eager to try it as well. If it exceeded my expectations, I would come back for another session just before my wedding day.

The booth at my local mall. During conversations with the salesperson at the booth, I found out that they are still using bleach, and it’s not exactly the light that makes your teeth white. The light only makes the whitening faster and stronger.

Reading the directions on what I will be doing for the next 15 minutes.

Me, looking slightly scared.

Elle says, “piece of cake!”

15 minutes is a long time to wait, so they play music videos to keep you occupied. You are allowed to choose only between Mariah Carey or Celine Dion. I wasn’t sure which of the two would least likely make me want to kill myself so I just shrugged my shoulders. They ended up playing Celine Dion for me. Elle chose Mariah Carey.

The results of my session. The first tooth on the left is the whitest, while the last tooth is the darkest. I measured at 7 shades in (the tooth turned over sideways towards the middle of the model), which wasn’t too bad according to the sales person, but I still cringed. After, I measured at 2 shades in, which was 5 shades lighter than 15 minutes before! Elle’s results were four shades lighter.

Overall, I have to admit that it works. There was no sensitivity at all, either! If money isn’t an object for you, I would recommend getting this done to kick start the whitening process, then using GoSmile to whiten parts that might have been missed. I guess it beats paying $600-$800 to ask your local dentist to whiten your teeth!

What’s your favorite teeth-whitening method?