Last month, Max walked up to me and asked me why my teeth were brown. Nice. While I understand that some people might not care, I’ve spent a lot of time and money on my teeth and they are very important to me. I’ve worked hard to look after them but my daily cup of tea, occasional glass of red wine and the aging process has caused a fair amount of staining. So, while I was embarrassed that they’ve gotten so bad, I wasn’t really surprised that he’d noticed.

Since I was conscious of it, I knew that it was time to get help. I contacted my hygenist and she recommended an in-house professional treatment* but it cost $350 and seeing as I don’t have medical coverage it wasn’t in my budget. Plan B was to use those over-the-counter products** available at your local pharmacist. While their cost is more affordable at around $50, they didn’t have any effect on the staining on my teeth. A total waste of money. So I went to Plan C.

Over the years, I’d read positive reviews about Smile Brilliant Teeth Whitening products but I wasn’t knowledgable regarding online products like theirs and I’m not the type of person to jump into things when it comes to my teeth. However, after doing due diligence by checking out their website, asking the company a lot of questions and enquiring with a dental hygienist friend, I decided that it was a good fit for me to try out.

The Set-up

Within days, I had received a kit that included everything I needed to create custom fitted teeth whitening trays, instructions, a return envelope and 3 whitening gel syringes. Note that each syringe is good for 3-4 applications (depending up how much you use).

One item to note is that you have to keep your mouth open for several minutes and you can’t swallow (or really spit), I suggest you hang your head over the sink so that your saliva can escape. The taste of the catalyst and base paste was completely inoffensive and within 15 minutes, I had created both custom trays. All I had to do was put them and the consent form in a (provided) envelope and mail it back to Smile Brilliant.***

And then the waiting game began. Or so I thought. Actually, I only had to wait 6 business days for the completed custom trays to be sent back to me.

The Cleaning

The instructions were very clear and I didn’t deviate from them too much. I started with 45-minutes of the desensitizing gel and then 1 hour with the whitening gel. A friend of mine chose not to use the desensitizing gel at all, ever and didn’t have problems with sensitivity.

The first time, I used too much of the whitening gel and had some bleaching to my lower gums. It hurt a bit but not enough for me to realize that it had happened until after the session had completed. Within 15 minutes of completing the treatment my skin was back to normal. I mentioned it to the company and they suggested that I take a few days off (which I did) and had it occur two more times over the six day period. Note that it never happened to my top teeth.

The two gels are different in taste but not offensive at all. When there was an excess, I just wiped it off with my finger, tongue or a cloth. I could easily talk with them on and even had several phone conversations where the person didn’t notice at all. The best part was that after every cleaning my teeth felt so clean!

The Results

The Results speak for themselves. After only six days (and not consecutive days due to the little bleaching issue), my teeth went from THIS…

To THIS!

You can clearly see how diminished the dark staining is on the top and after only 3 sessions, my bottom teeth are white (at the gums). Considering I’m only half way there, I’m confident that they’ll get even whiter. I’m not interested in white-white because that’s not what is natural for my teeth, however, the way they were wasn’t natural either.

If money is an issue for you, it doesn’t have to be with Smile Brilliant. This kit costs $119.95USD and comes with a 100% Money Back Guarantee and the trays come with a 2-year warranty. Not that you’d need to use it as I found the trays to be very robust even when I was biting on them.

For me, this was the best route possible and I’m appreciative that Smile Brilliant Teeth Whitening gave me (back) the smile that I want.

Ever Had Your Teeth Whitened?

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* The professional treatment would have been what a dentist would have provided. Note that I don’t have a dentist.
** I have used over-the-counter products before and they worked, however, just for a top up and not the kind of staining that I had.
*** Shipping in the USA is free. Since I’m in Canada, it cost me $8.03 to return the tray molds.

Disclosure: Journeys of The Zoo received a copy of this product(s) that enabled us to complete this review.