Disclosure – I received a complimentary kit from Smile Brilliant to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
I’ve thought about it. And if you have your daily cup of coffee I know you’ve thought about it too.
Are my teeth getting discolored by all this coffee drinking? And tea, cola and wine drinking? What else is staining my teeth?
I noticed that my teeth are not as bright in pictures as they used to be. I begin to pay attention to the commercials, the magazine ads and all the many different ways to whiten your teeth.
Do they hurt? Are they expensive? Should I jump on this too? Yellowed teeth make you look older than you are and my diet is definitely not helping my smile.
But I was scared – I have heard of people trying whitening treatments and complaining of nerve pain or sudden teeth sensitivity and was the money even worth it? I want that celebrity smile but I don’t have that celebrity cash!
So when Smile Brilliant reached out to me to try their at home whitening kit I was curious and excited to do it!
How do you whiten your teeth with Smile Brilliant?
It’s super simple and easy. You create an impression of your teeth. You send the impressions off in a pre-paid envelope. Less than a week later Smile Brilliant will send you a customized tray that fits perfectly on your teeth.
Smile Brilliant provides instructions on how to create the impressions. Basically, you have some soft putty that you squish and play with. Then you spread it over the little blue tray that is provided and sink your teeth into the putty. A few minutes later, impressions made.
I mailed them off in the prepaid envelope and in less than a week I was holding my custom made whitening trays that came in their own storage box. It was really simple.
What’s next?
The kit comes complete with whitening gel, desensitizing gel and instructions for the whole process. Squeeze some gel into the trays and fit the trays over your teeth. Then you hang out for some time. Anywhere between 45 minutes to 3 hours.
Yes, you can still talk with the whitening trays in your mouth without drooling everywhere! It’s barely noticeable, to be honest. I wouldn’t recommend going out and wearing them in public but at home, I had no issues carrying on a conversation with them on. Oh.. yes one more thing. Try not to sneeze with the trays in! Maybe I’m just a violent sneezer but those trays came flying out of my mouth and it was hilarious!
What are the Cons?
Yes, there were some cons. I started noticing a stinging sensation on my gums after the first few times I whitened my teeth. I called up Smile Brilliant for some advice because I didn’t think that was normal. They advised me to use less whitening gel in the trays so the gel wouldn’t reach up to my gums. I tried that along with some oil (I used coconut oil) rubbed on my gums to prevent the whitening gel from touching my gums. Great advice because it worked! I no longer had any issues with gum sensitivity.
They also advised I cut down on the coffee while I’m doing this whitening process on my teeth. Makes sense. Drinking coffee while whitening your teeth is like running on the treadmill and eating a donut at the same time. One thing is destroying the results of the other. So I also cut down on coffee drinking which isn’t really a Con but I’m addicted to coffee so it wasn’t easy!
The Results
I definitely noticed my teeth getting whiter and brighter. My friends noticed my smile and none of my friends knew that I was whitening my teeth. I got some compliments like “Your teeth look really great – I don’t know why I’m just now noticing them” and “You have a really nice smile” – these from people I have known for years!
Yup yup. It was my Smile Brilliant smile that’s what! When I admitted I had been whitening my teeth they realized that was it! My smile looked brighter.
Unfortunately as excited as I was to capture the results on camera I was disappointed that I didn’t see a difference in photos! Same DSLR camera, same lighting and no editing whatsoever. To me, my teeth look the same in the before and after shots. Tell me what you think?
Possible reasons why I didn’t see dramatic results on camera:
I.COULD.NOT.CUT.DOWN.THE.COFFEE!
I tried letting the coffee cool and drinking it through a straw so it would have less contact with my teeth. I did that maybe twice because I would keep forgetting.
I confess that I drank coffee pretty much as often as I did before. Was I whitening them and then staining them again and the overall net balance was enough to notice in real life but not enough to notice in pictures? Inconclusive.
Overall I’m extremely happy with my results. I’m sorry I couldn’t depict that in a photograph – you’re just going to have to see it in person or try it out yourself.
Want to try it out?
Go to Smile Brilliant and use coupon code: coffeeandsweats20 for 20% off! Or you could….
Enter the Giveaway!
Enter to win a $149 credit at Smile Brilliant! Check out their T3 Sensitive System complete with 1 set of custom trays, 9 whitening applications and 9 desensitizing applications. All you need to do to enter is provide your name and email address. Contest open to all readers in United States of America, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia. Giveaway expires exactly one week from today on September 21st 2018. Go enter! It’s time to #SmileFearlessly
