At-Home Teeth Whitening: Does it Work?

This post is a collaboration with Smile Brilliant. All opinions are my own.

This year one of my goals has been to really focus on and prioritize my self-care. One of the ways I have been doing that is by giving my smile some extra attention. Yes, you read that right, my smile.

I’ve always taken pride in my smile. I used to have big gaps in my front teeth and a huge overbite. As a teen, my parents let me choose if I wanted to get braces or not and I jumped at it! I spent two-ish years with braces and honestly, it didn’t bother me much because I knew it would be well worth it in the end.

As an actress and now a content creator having a good smile is huge. I want to look my best and be confident in showing off my teeth. I’ve always been a positive and super smiley girl. So much so that I always get complimented on my smile. One of my nicknames was even “Smiley”.

As an adult who loves my daily green tea and the occasional glass of wine, my teeth aren’t as white as they used to be. Did you know everyday things like coffee, tea, wine, and even foods can stain your teeth over time?

I take so much pride in my smile that I wanted to try teeth whitening to give it some much-needed self-care. Enter Smile Brilliant. The only teeth whitening I’ve ever used before were Crest Whitening Strips as a teen. I’ve never tried an at-home teeth whitening system before so I was honestly a bit skeptical. But after reading some reviews and seeing the results other people have gotten using this company I decided to give it a try.

My experience with Smile Brilliant was an overall smooth one. As is common with teeth whitening, I did have some minor irritations that I will delve into in a minute. Some of the top positives of my experience with this whitening process were:

• Variety of packs to choose from based on your sensitivity
• The teeth whitening kit comes fast and postage is paid for
• It’s simple to use
• Customer service is amazing

Getting Your Whitening Kit

First, they send you a kit in the mail. It comes with the following items:

• Detailed instructions on how to make your teeth molds and what to do during the whole whitening process
• A release form
• Dental trays
• Base paste
• Catalyst past
• Teeth whitening gel
• Desensitizing gel
• A little brush
• A pre-paid return shipping envelope.

Making Teeth Impressions

Before making your teeth molds make sure you read the instructions in full and follow them closely. I honestly read them through twice because I wanted to make sure I had the timing right. You will mix the base and catalyst pastes together to make the molds. Once you mix the pastes they start to harden so time is imperative to make sure they come out well. After you have them mixed you put them into the dental trays and bite down to get the impression of your actual teeth.

Be prepared for this process as you drool a lot. I kept a towel with me to dab the drool away because while you’re waiting for the molding to dry you can’t remove the trays to spit.

If you have any questions about your trays being right prior to sending them in you can contact Smile Brilliant’s customer service with photos to verify they are good. After I did my trays I noticed my wisdom teeth scraped the last part of my mold paste (i.e. they didn’t fit into the mold). I was concerned this would be an issue. So I simply emailed in some photos and explained the situation. It was not an issue and my trays were able to be sent in.

Your last set of regular molars and any wisdom teeth you may have will not be included in the whitening tray you get back, so if all of your teeth don’t fit on the mold, no need to worry. If there is any doubt just send them an email to verify. Once your molds are ready send them back in the prepaid mailing envelope along with the consent form to get made in the lab.

How it Works

The whitening process is pretty simple:

• Floss and brush your teeth with water only
• 45 minutes to 3 hours with the whitening gel on your teeth
• Brush your teeth
• 15-20 minutes with the desensitizing gel on your teeth

Each syringe of gel you should get 3-4 applications from. Some of mine I even got 4 1/2 to 5. Because I wanted to air on the side of caution my first couple of applications I used small amounts to gage my comfort and if I had any sensitivity issues which is why they lasted a little longer.

First Whitening Application

For my first whitening application I used a smaller amount of whitening gel to see if it bothered me in any way. I also don’t think much of it covered my teeth. I unintentionally didn’t put the gel on the recommended spot of the tray itself and when I put the tray on my teeth I believe most of the gel got squeezed out of the tray. I kept the application on for 45 mins and then kept the desensitizing gel on for 15 minutes. The trays fit well and are rubbery in feel which I didn’t expect. This was nice because they were more flexible.

After the initial trial run of Day 1, I reread the instructions in my kit and realized I had put the gel on the wrong spot of my trays. A little tip I have for you to avoid this mistake is to put the gel on the outside front part of the tray where the front of your teeth will go. This will help ensure the gel sits on the front of your teeth to whiten the desired area for when you smile.

Something else to note is that sometimes it looks splotchy after whitening. Don’t freak out! This is normal. Something I noticed after my first application was that my teeth looked splotchy or spotty (i.e. the coloring wasn’t even on my teeth). Again, this is normal. It will even out so don’t stress over ruining your teeth.

Whitening Process

After 4 applications my gums started getting a little sore and irritated. I consulted with Smile Brilliant again about this and they were great! They reassured me that this is really common, provided me with some tips to help, and advised that I take off 1 day to a couple of days from whitening to let my gums heal completely. I took two days in a row off and my gums felt normal again so I picked my whitening back up.

From that point on I would do 3-4 day applications in a row and then take 1 day off to give my gums a break. My gums felt better but I did still experience some gum irritation when brushing my teeth off and on during the rest of the process. I think my gum irritation was more from where my trays rubbed on my gums then the actual whitening gel.

The best tip I got from Smile Brilliant that helped me was to coat my gums in coconut oil prior to applying the whitening gel trays. It really helped to keep the gel from getting on my gums as much. Which in turn also kept the bitter taste of the gel out of my mouth too. Win/win.

I always did my whitening before bed as per Smile Brilliant’s recommendation. It is best to do it when you aren’t going to be eating and drinking so that you don’t restain your teeth right away. I also tried to stay near a bathroom or sink because the whitening process made me droll a lot and I had to spit often.

You can do whitening sessions from 45 minutes all the way up to 3 hours. It is highly recommended to start at the lowest time of 45 minutes and slowly work your way up to longer times. I only did the minimum of 45 minutes-1 hour applications because it was hard for me to have to spit constantly. The whitening gel also has such a bitter taste it was hard to keep it on much longer.

End Results

**Disclaimer: I used the same lighting and time of day to take both my before and after photos. I also did not use any filters or presets on any of my before or after photos to keep them as authentic as possible.

During this process, I didn’t really notice a whitening difference in my day to day life. This is typical though isn’t it? We usually don’t notice the results until we compare before and after photos. I was honestly surprised by the visual difference in these photos. I am so happy with my end results! All in all this experience was pleasant and I would definitely recommend giving Smile Brilliant a try.

GIVEAWAY!!

Do you want to give at-home teeth whitening a try for yourself? You’re in luck! Smile Brilliant is hosting a special giveaway just for YOU! You can win your very own customized at-home teeth whitening kit just like the one I used. To enter all you need to do is click on this link and enter your name and email address. Easy peasy.

Don’t want to wait on the giveaway or don’t win? No worries. You can still be a winner! For an exclusive 15% off on Smile Brilliant kits enter coupon code: littlehumblings15. And don’t forget to smile fearlessly!