Crest Whitestrips Premium Plus - Not Worth The Hype

We all want that bright, white smile, but how do we get to it? Through several torture methods, of course! Either by paying a good sum of money to your dentist to do it for you, or by taking the cheap route to the nearest drugstore to buy some whitening product. Well, I'm one of the cheap people who go for drugstore products, and I always trust Crest when it comes to whitening.

While preparing for my extra-long summer vacation, I decided to go for the latest in whitening technology: Crest Whitestrips Premium Plus! Which is supposed to whiten teeth in 10 days. Crest boasts, "You will see full results in 10 days, and have a whiter smile for 18 months." So I went for it! It was pretty pricey (compared to other similar products), at around $35 (USD).

I went home all excited and rushed to the bathroom to check out the stuff in the new blue box (Crest Whitestrips Premium Plus come in a hard plastic, blue box). I found 40 strips: 20 "Upper Strips" and 20 "Lower Strips." I also found a nifty little pamphlet about the product. It had directions that were easy to follow and some commonly asked questions, along with solutions to a few problems that may occur while using the strips (like gum sensitivity, whitening product on fingers, etc.). Basically, the instructions stated that the strips were to be used twice daily for 30 minutes at a time. It is OK to do the 30-minute sessions back to back, as long as you use a new pair of strips for every 30 minutes.

I must note, however, that my teeth are usually not sensitive at all. They are not sensitive to cold, hot, or sweet foods. Generally, my teeth and gums are strong and healthy, so I was not expecting to feel any sensitivity while using Whitestrips. I must also note that I used Crest Night Effects before with great results and no sensitivity at all, but applying the gel and leaving it to dry on my teeth was somewhat tricky and tedious (Night Effects is a box containing a tube of whitening gel and 14 tiny brushes to apply the gel overnight; they are not strips). Also, Crest Whitestrips Premium Plus contain a higher concentration of Hydrogen Peroxide (the main whitening agent) than Crest Night Effects does.