Teeth Whitening for the Uninitiated

So I haven't been happy with the color of my teeth for almost forever, they are really yellow in my opinion. My dentist mentioned that my teeth are the perfect color to bleach, as they are yellow not grey. I'm not sure what I'm prepared to spend to bleach them yet. I checked out the drug store for DIY options and the prace ranges from $10 to $70. I am totally overwhelmed. In your opinion/experience, what has worked for you? How much does it run to get it done at a dentist's office and how much better is it from DIY options? How long do these treatments last? I'm thinking of getting orthodontics to fix a slight overlap on my top 2 middle teeth, so although I may get a whitening at my dentist's office one day, I would do it after I correct the misalignment first. Until then, I'm thinking of doing something over the counter but I really don't know what. The Crest whitening strips are the most expensive, but are they really much better? And there are so many different ones with different numbers of strength, length of time, etc. Oh and I should mention that I have sensitive teeth. I've been using Sensodyne now for a few weeks and I feel it's helping a little - will the whitening make my teeth that much more sensitive?
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Platinum Member Joined: Nov 17 2008 Posts: 5047

I have been dealing with this for a while and haven't had much success with the Crest Whitestrips -- I've tried the 2 top rated types (including the one you're only supposed to be able to get from your dentist, but I bought it on Amazon).

Take a look at this site for lots of information: http://www.teethwhiteningreviews.com/reviews.php

Based on those reviews and my experience, I've ordered SprayWhite 90 Teeth Whitening Spray from Amazon. It should come tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes.

I asked my dentist and he said he has one option which is premade whitening trays that costs $75. He said he doesn't know if it is more effective than the whitestrips I tried. After that is something with custom made trays which costs $350 initially and then $75 for each touch up.

I'm sure that part of my problem is that I drink a lot of tea, both regular and iced.
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Thanks that website is great, full of lots of information. I'm just really confused as to what's healthy or what affects the enamel on teeth. Does it really burn? My teeth are very sensitive.

My teeth are very sensitive by the gum line. When I used Crest Whitestrips 7 years ago, it was a little painful. They worked really well though.