I've tried Colgate's Simply White Night. It's a "paint on" one that you use at night. Works really, really well. But make sure your teeth and gums are in good shape before using any over the counter whitener. Jaime

The colgate one works good? Thanks!

Yeah, it does work really well. It took about three nights for me to start seeing results. I drink coffee and coke way more than I should, so my teeth definately need it! Just beware, after you get it all painted on and you close your mouth, it feels like your mouth is foaming up like a rabid dog! It doesn't taste too bad, just feels weird. Try to spit it out rather than swallow! Jaime

the problem with all of them is that they leave your teeth more porous than they were- so the effect's temporary, and the new stains can be worse than the old ones.

using the whiteners's no good unless you're willing to stop smoking or drinking coffee for at least two weeks afterwards, and use one of the new 'recalcificating' toothpastes to try and build up a stain-resistant surface.

I've tried quite a few of OTC teeth whiteners, but nothing seem to do much good--sort of wondered if I just naturally have very off-white teeth. HOWEVER, am using Crest Night Effects & really wish I'd taken a "before" picture. I've only used half a box (skipped a night ever now & then) and I'm impressed. If you haven't tried it, do so!!! It definitely has my "seal of approval". I could be a walking commercial for the stuff!!!

I've use AquaFresh Whitening toothpaste since it came out on the market, and I do not need to use any other whitening product. Over time I saw wonderful results!!

Haven't tried them myself but I thought I'd pass this on.

My local paper had a full page on this today. Six people tried 6 of the OTC products. There were 6 "no" votes. The one that did the best, if you can call it that, was Crest White Strips. The tester like the convience and got good results but it was very temporary. About 2 weeks. All the paint-ons were uniformly disliked.

Teri

My dental hygenist recently recommended Professional Crest Whitestrips for my teeth. You get enough strips (used twice a day for 30 min) for 3 weeks. I noticed a big difference after 1 week...(not like those glowing teeth you see on tv, but nice, bright, clean whiter teeth). I still have 1 week to go..and the effects are SUPPOSED to last a minimum of 6 months.

I used the Crest strips and thought they did a great job! Actually, there are enough strips for 2 weeks (done twice a day). I'm a coffee drinker (usually only 1 cup in the morning) and continued to drink coffee throughout the 2 week period, still saw a noticeable whitening of my teeth. I'm not sure the effects will last 6 months, but I was satisfied with the results!

Lori

After reading the above post, I went out to get something for my teeth. The whitestrips were sold out and so was any other whitening stuff by a reputable company, so I got a tube of Aquafresh whitening toothpaste. It's been exactly one week and I definetly see a difference already! I'm a really big coffee drinker (3+ big cups a day), I was using Rembrant but it didn't seem to do much. Thanks for the post!

I have never heard of a recalcificating toothpaste. Who makes it or what do I look for?

I tried one of the night time paint-ons for a week or so but the taste was so revolting I could not continue. Why is this never mentioned by anyone? It made me gag.

From what I've heard the best method is the one where your dentist makes molds of your upper and lower teeth to create custome "trays" that you wear overnight or for a few hours each day. You fill the trays with bleaching solution (gel). It's around $500 or so.

My dentist convinced me that the trays he makes with the dentist grade bleach was the best way to go, even better than laser treatments.

It worked a little, but I have a feeling that the OTC stuff would have worked almost as good for a lot less money. I like him a lot as a dentist, so I believed him, but I dunno.

I didn't have time to investiage it then. I was getting ready for my wedding.

Lila, I'm getting the trays in about a month. A tax return gift to myself...($600) My dentist will do a before and after comparison of my tooth color to verify results...so we'll see. FYI, the laser treatment cost is $900 at my guy. A technician in the office said she uses the trays and thinks the trays are better than laser. Her teeth are white but she's 2 decades younger than me.

My dentist doesn't offer laser treatments, so I felt like he was just saying trays were better because it's all he could offer.

It's encouraging that the technician who has access to both thinks that the trays are better than laser.

It did work, but I can't help feeling the OTC stuff woujld have been almost as good.

I paid $500 2 years ago for the trays for what it's worth.

Have you ever tried the OTC stuff?

Yeah. Sis got me Crest whitestrips when they were first out, but I'd forget to use them. I'm doing the "Simply White" brush on now, just to get a head start; I'm a little better at remembering them. My dentist thinks you get some whitening with the OTC stuff, but you must be careful to not get it on your gums. He also says yellowish tint teeth get better result than greyish tint teeth; grey teeth just become a brighter grey. I don't smoke but I'm a lifelong tea drinker. He thinks I'll get good results with the trays.

I had the trays made at the dentist a couple years ago. I got an amazing deal though . . . only $100.00 at the time and it all went to a special charity . . . it was a promo at the time. Anyway, the molds fit so much better than any OTC molds, since they are molded especially for your own teeth. You can actually buy the 20% carbamide peroxide on ebay, which is the strongest strength and is normally only sold by dentists. Most over the counter ones are only 5% to 10%, so this is much more affective. I have to say, I love having such white teeth!

Brenda

I quit smoking last year and wanted to whiten my teeth now that they're not being re-stained every day with nicotine. After trying several different toothpastes, paint-ons, and strips I didn't see much of a difference. I finally decided to go with the laser treatment on my dentist's recommendation. It's expensive but he gave me a discount for being a long time client. Besides, I've saved more than what it will cost by not buying cigarettes anymore. I'm having it done next week, I'll post back with the results.

Well, it's been a little over two weeks since I did the laser thing on my teeth. Besdies being expensive, it was darn uncomfortable. There were three 20 minute sessions with my mouth full of cotton pads, retractors, lip guards, etc. And maybe it's just because my teeth are somewhat sensitive, but they actually hurt for the next 18-20 hours after the treatment. The difference in color was very noticeable the next day but the day after that my teeth had darkened somewhat again. (I was warned that this would happen.)I can still see the difference in color when compared to my crown which did not lighten, but for the price of the procedure I am disappointed with the results. If I were to do it all over again I think I would try the trays instead.

I have a question for those of you with custom made trays:

Do your trays have a little bump (resevoir) in the middle of each tooth to hold the bleach gel, or are they just slightly larger than your own teeth? Mine have the little bump, and the gel seems to sit in the middle. Someone told me that the doctor should have added a layer of epoxy to the mold before he made the trays to just make it slightly larger than mine own teeth. What are your trays like?

My trays fit almost like a glove,no reservoir. When they slip on the gel spreads out. Best to use them lying down as the gel will gravitate down to the lower part of the teeth so they whiten more than the upper parts. I've had mine for about 5 years and the doc just slips me a new supply every now and then. The last supply he said I only needed to leave them on for about half an hour rather than all night. Ilike the trays, work great when I do my routine on a regular basis. I like the idea of the tooth paste. Think I'll try that Aquafresh so that it's more automatic for me.

Terrapots, but if you don't have a resevoir,or slightly looser trays, doesn't the gel just kind of all squish out and get on your gums? Also, I don't have the lower, tray...how do you get the gel to stick despite gravity?

I put a thin line at the deepest part and when I put the form on it squishes up, any excess i wipe off with a washcloth. Its pretty thick stuff. The half hour type I like best because I can just lie down and it keeps it from gravitating.

I used the OTC rembrandts trays a few wks ago & the taste was horrible. Who would have thought 30 min could feel like an eternity. Also who has time to do them 2x/day? Tonight I'm going to start with their whitening strips & we'll see. 1x/day for 5-7 days. I'm taking my before now...

Michie

Well I tried the whitening strips & I thought they were going to be thin strips but they are thick almost gummy feeling strips that are hard to keep on & still it oozes enough to taste terrible! I did notice that after 1 use my teeth did look whiter to me - not sure if anyone else can tell.

Michie

I used Simply White Night paint-on solution. The results were satisfying. I prefer the Night kind because all you have to do is paint on the solution, wait about one minute for it to dry and then go to sleep. Make sure you don't eat or drink anything. When you wake up you just brush your teeth off and in a short amount of time you will have white teeth.

Gardenkat, I had my teen Zoom-whitened on the very day that you posted. What's totally opposite is that my dentist told me my teeth may continue to whiten for 24-48 hours after the procedure. I didn't really notice that, but they didn't darken either. The teeth are supposedly very porous for 24-48 hours afterwards.

Part of the cost included impressions for trays and I used them nightly for one hour for 10 days after the procedure. The dentist recommends using the trays with gel every 6 months. My teeth aren't white-white now, but they were a disgusting yellow/gray before and probably lightened about 8 shades.

I drink coffee only in the morning (usually), so I dd alter my morning routine to brush my teeth after I've had my coffee. I also try to brush after every meal, too, but that's an extra step at work.

i drink a lot of coffee and i was wondering if anyone has used whitening products to get rid of yellow tint coffee drinking makes your teeth?

i think aquafresh whitening trays would really help us coffee drinkers out! i work with the people at aquafresh and the whitening trays whiten your teeth quickly and it''s only about 30 minutes a day.

you can still drink coffee after and before whenever you and still get whiter teeth, anyone think about whitening your teeth or using aquafresh?

I use the night paint on stuff but I don't think it tastes bad. I think it just tastes like a minty flavor. I have used it maybe four nights now and noticed a difference. Not as good as I'd like but I still have a week and a half to go so I'm sure I'll see a difference soon. I am also going to get that aquafresh toothpaste because you all have me convinced. So we'll see.

I tried the crest white strips and it kinda worked but nothing special, I wouldnt recommend it, plus they were a hassle. The one that I like the best is the all white system. Literally within a week I saw a difference, but I got the 30% because I dont have sensitive teeth. Anyways hopes this helps, oh and you can get them for dirt cheap on www.dentist.net

Isn't that nice of Paul to register on the forum just to direct us to a website.

I have used the white strips once. They made my teeth sensitive and hurt. They can do that. So I use a battery operated tooth polisher now to remove tea stains.

I didn't read the whole thread because it's very long but I wanted to tell you about my experience.

I didn't want to spend a lot of money so I thought Ebay was a good idea... Or maybe it was Amazon, I can't remember.

Anyways, I bought the Premium but it turns out that it was pointless the "kit" I bought wasn't a whole kit, it didn't have as many strips as the full kit has. And THAT is why Premium costs more, I spent more money on something that was the exact same as the regular kit.

Also, they sent them out of the box to "save me money on shipping" and so, there was no expiration date. I used them, they made no difference, didn't even burn like they did when I bought them the last time but from a store and I couldn't prove they were old because they no doubt lied about the expiration date.

Be careful with your money. The ones I bought from the store actually did work though and they worked well. They didn't burn as much as the trays do.

the best teeth whitening system out on the market is called GoSMile. It comes in these little ampoules and each contains pure hydrogen peroxide which has been vaccum sealed. The whole treatment is like 80 bucks and it whitens about 10 shades. Its amazing. I know its sold at sephora but dont know where else. You wont have any sensitivity with it and its comparable to what you would get in the dentist office.

I've been using Listerineî Whitening Pre-Brush Rinse twice a day for a few months. It has made a difference.