I’ve tried so many different at-home teeth whitening products… Crest whitening strips, White Glo whitening toothpaste, whitening gel pens, charcoal toothpaste just to name a few! Some of them actually worked really well, I would definitely recommend the Crest stripes along with the White Glo toothpaste however they never really achieve the same result as professional teeth whitening. There are loads of dentists out there that offer teeth whitening such as this Cosmetic Dentist Melbourne, as sorting your teeth out makes people less self-conscious about their smile. But it was just never something that I really thought about.

I have only ever had my teeth professionally whitened twice. This is mainly because the first time I got it done IT WAS A DISASTER…

I went with a friend to a beauty salon who were offering a cheap teeth whitening deal, I didn’t even think to even second guess why it was so cheap. I just immediately trusted the fact (call me naive) that the UK has strict regulations when it comes to healthcare so I thought they would be licensed to do such a simple thing such as teeth whitening!! I’m really self conscious about my teeth, I even considered visiting San Diego cosmetic dentist to get some veneers, but I wanted to stay in the UK.

I still don’t know if they were licensed or not but I can say with certainty that it was not a professional experience. I basically was taken into this dressing room-sized cube and made to sit back on this super uncomfortable seat with my head up facing the laser to whiten my teeth. I was sat there ALONE for 40 minutes drooling and dribbling with 10 mins checks from the receptionist here and there. I felt super nervous because it was my first time getting my teeth whitened at a salon so I didn’t know the process or even what to expect. I was used to things like the home kit strips after reading a crest 3d white strips luxe review, but this was different. As I was so uncomfortable, I kept moving my angle slightly and a few times I could feel the laser on my gums which was sore and I kept saying to the receptionist to reposition the laser as I felt it wasn’t facing the right way and that it was hurting me. They actually seemed to get annoyed at the fact that it was uncomfortable for me as if I was a nuisance! I couldn’t believe it and it made me feel like I didn’t want to bother them.

After the 40 mins, I had a look in the mirror and my teeth were the whitest I’d seen but so were my gums, completely white and swollen!! It really freaked me out I asked why and they told me that they were white because of a lack of oxygen but just to drink lots of water and they will go back to normal! The next day it was clear that I had chemical burns, my gums were bleeding and extremely sore along with extreme sensitivity. I struggled to eat over the next few days to a point where I actually wanted to cry. It was honestly the worst salon experience I’ve ever had.

So my lesson learned here was FIND A GDC registered dentist and make sure that they are 100% certified!!

So almost a year later I decided to give teeth whitening another go with Smile Central who is a reputable and trusted practice who I had been looking at for a while and they reached out for me to try their laser activated teeth whitening. At first, I was wary because of my bad experience so I explained to them what happened before and they were shocked. They then told me that a lot of beauty salons aren’t actually registered dentists and shouldn’t be offering teeth whitening as a service as it is legally required that you need to be a qualified dentist! Also within the UK, you are only legally allowed to use 6% peroxide, but they explained that many salons can purchase peroxide from America and ship it over and use it in Britain and sometimes they are using up to 25% peroxide which can be extremely risky, not to mention ILLEGAL. They were so knowledgeable and it seemed to me like they knew that it was an issue that quite a lot of people had experienced. I felt so so silly for not going to a professional dental clinic, to begin with! They are there for a reason, so from my personal experience, it would be best to look into going to a clinic, rather than trying anything and everything in order to achieve the perfect smile.

At Smile Central I went for the Light Activated Teeth Whitening treatment. The Smile Central clinic was extremely hygienic and was a similar design to a dentistry treatment room with a proper dental chair which immediately put my mind at ease. The dentist was lovely and extremely helpful, she gave me lots of useful info and performed an oral health check before beginning the treatment. From there everything went smoothly, I had no pain or anything during the teeth whitening and the dentist stayed in the room until the whitening was finished. Afterwards, I had no sensitivity or anything it literally worked a treat on my teeth with the 6% peroxide. My teeth went super white they told me it was the highest shade of natural white they could achieve (B1) so I couldn’t have been happier with the results.

I just wanted to write this post to show you the difference between going to a beauty salon and a registered dentistry for teeth whitening. Never ever again will I risk my health for a cheap deal, you are always better to be safe than sorry!! Only ever let a dentist do your teeth… learn from my mistake!

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* Smile Central provided a free dental treatment in exchange for a honest review. Please note that all my opinions are my own and as always 100% my honest thoughts.