White teeth without a filter
*** The following post is sponsored conversation with Alliance Dental and the Alliance Dental Partner Program. As always, all opinions and vehicle selfies are my own. ***
You know those whitening toothpaste commercials where they show the range of colours teeth can be? I always imagined I’d be in the mid-range — not really dark, but certainly nowhere near the bright white. I was in the “beige zone” — otherwise known as That Blah Yellow Tinge.
My teeth were certainly STRAIGHT, thanks to two years of braces — and the fact that I still wear my retainers nightly, 20 freakin’ years after getting my braces off. And while I was certainly happy they were straight, the colour did bug me.*
(*Especially next to my neighbour — who seriously has the most gorgeous naturally white teeth you’ve ever seen in your life. Whenever I stood next to her, I felt like I had a mouthful of yellow Chicklets. But EVERYONE feels that way next to her.)
I mean, they weren’t terrible. But they also weren’t that white. I was so self-conscious about the yellow-ness of my teeth that I got very comfortable with the “teeth whiten” feature on PicMonkey.
So when Alliance Dental reached out and asked if I’d like to come in for two teeth whitening sessions (which would all be done in a single appointment), I was like YES PLEASE OMG YESSSSSSSS!
The appointment was booked for this morning, and I was so excited I showed up 20 minutes early to take dozens of pre-appointment selfies in the truck.
(I used my iPhone and my Fuji X-A3 to try to capture things accurately. Naturally, the Fuji pics are more flattering because it’s a better camera. NONE of the following photos have been edited even a little, which was pretty difficult because I wanted to add some more colour to my cheeks and restrained myself for journalistic intergrity. You’re welcome.)
My Registered Dental Hygienist for the morning was Natasha, and she was super sweet!
She explained everything she was going to do, and I honestly didn’t have a single question by the time we were ready to get started. I couldn’t wait!
Alliance Dental uses Spa Dent, which is LED light activated teeth whitening. The first step involved Natasha putting some goopy blue “barrier” stuff on my gums, and then hardening it with the light for 20 seconds. It reminded me of my braces days, when I had that clear orthodontic wax pressed over my brackets to keep them from rubbing the inside of my mouth. Ahh, memories.
Once Natasha gooped up my lips (and my “inside” gums) with a bit of Vitamin E oil, we were ready to go! She fit a tray into my mouth and adjusted the light so it was pointed right at my teeth, and then I zoned out and watched Love it or List it: Vancouver. (Spoiler alert: the couple loved it.)
Natasha had said I might feel a tingly sensation, but I was surprised to feel nothing — except for a few seconds when my tongue must have touched some of the solution and I had a momentary taste of something. There was a countdown on the Spa Dent machine, but I was so into the TV show I didn’t care how long I had left.
We did one 20-minute session with the light, then Natasha cleaned me up — hose, sucker thing, etc. — and prepped me to do it again. It was awesome to be able to do both treatments in a single appointment.
She took a quick mid-point picture, but I decided not to peek at the results until after the second treatment. Apparently, the most dramatic change happens in that first session. Natasha told me I’d gone up eight shades (!!!) already, and we still had a 20-minute session to go.
Another episode of Love it or List it: Vancouver had just started, and I was really into this couple and their totallyyyy relatable 1.5 million dollar budget. Once the final timer went off, I took off my orange shades (so my eyes could adjust to the light again) and Natasha announced I’d gone up two more shades, for a total of 10 SHADES WHITER!!!
So what does a 10-shade difference look like on REAL teeth (specifically, MY teeth)? Well …
Natasha sent me home with a touch-up kit that I can start using in a few months if I want to “freshen” my smile again. It’s a container of Miracle Smile, which I’ll brush on like toothpaste (or even mix with my toothpaste, for a lesser effect) for five days in a row.
She also said to avoid eating staining foods for the first 24-48 hours, like coffee and red wine (don’t drink those anyway), tea and pop (noooooooo — but I’ll be good, I promise), berries, ketchup, salsa, spaghetti sauce, curry, mustard, or any other dark foods. So basically that’s a white-food diet i.e. my favourite foods anyway and I AM HERE FOR IT.
Big thanks to Alliance Dental for giving me a brighter smile this morning! It was completely comfortable, fast, and clearly VERY effective (#10shades #omg10shades!).
My only complaint is that the appointment went by too quickly, because I would have liked to keep watching Love it or List It for a few more hours. 😉
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