Can you really get a better smile in two hours?

While shopping for toothpaste I noticed all the different 'quickie' teeth-whitening kits that are available. My teeth are in good condition, but I know that they aren't a pretty color thanks to all the coffee I drink. I stood reading the label on the box (trying to find a 'catch' in the whole thing) for several minutes. Before long I noticed that the man next to me was doing the exact same thing.

He smiled and gestured at the box, "Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? I bet they don't even work."

I laughed and nodded at him, "Yeah, it seems like if they worked that great, everyone would be using them."

He nodded back before he smiled and said, "You only live once, right?" as he took a box and walked away.

I decided to take his carefree 'why-not?' attitude to heart and grabbed a box for myself, hoping in the back of my mind that I wouldn't end up with teeth like Ross on that episode of Friends. Although I like to find a good deal, I didn't really want to test out an 'off-brand' with my precious teeth, so I spent the six extra dollars to buy the Rembrandt 2 Hour Whitening Kit.

I ate a couple of chocolate covered coffee beans to get me through the two hours (I really love my coffee!) and put the whitener on.

The first few minutes were horribly uncomfortable, and if it weren't for the fact that I was testing this out as a blog entry, I would have thrown them out immediately and just said "Forget it!"... But since I didn't have that option, I kept going. By the second round of gel (about 30 minutes in) I was getting ready to lose my mind. My mouth was full of spit that I didn't want to swallow because of the gel chemicals, I had a washcloth stuffed between my teeth to absorb the moisture, and my baby was whining all through her nap because I couldn't find her binky.

Fortunately, the baby stopped crying after I rocked her for a while and when I took the second round of trays out of my mouth I saw that my teeth did look a little whiter. I hoped that I wasn't imagining it and went on for round three. By this time I was used to the weird bubbling sensation happening around my teeth and I just went with it. The washcloth went a long way in keeping my mouth dry, and I don't know how I would have gotten through my whitening sessions without it. Unfortunately, this is the point that my son decided to start begging me for chocolate milk, and I didn't have the room in my mouth to explain to him why he couldn't have any.

After a while I got my point across and he went to sulk in the living room while I put in my last set of trays. I think that if I didn't have my kids running around and bothering the dickens out of me I would have been able to do something (like play a video game or read a book) that helped me ignore the annoyance of the whitening trays.

The picture below shows the difference from before and after.

I was so relieved to be done with the trays, but it was worth it since I felt I could see a difference. The pessimist in me says that perhaps that was just the lighting playing tricks on my eyes, but the optimist in me says "Whoohoo! I'll have to try it again to see if I can get them even whiter!" I'd say that for only having spent $17 on this product, I got my money's worth.

Now if I can just figure out how to keep coffee from staining my teeth in the first place, I'll be all set!

Disclosure: I received no compensation for this post and, as always, my opinions are purely my own.