I've been thinking about having my teeth whitened for some time now and the only thing putting me off is the cost really. Now don't get me wrong, I don't have yellow fangs or anything like that and my teeth aren't particularly discoloured as I don't drink much coffee or red wine, however they are a little discoloured and in photos recently I've noticed they're not quite as white as some of my friends. I spoke to my dentist and he suggested going down the dental whitening route which would set me back around £200 and would provide me with a gum moulded guard that I would fill with the whitening solution each night over a period of time. One of my friends suggested that before I pay for that I try Crest's Whitening Strips which she bought over in America and did whiten her teeth for a much lower price.

Now the Crest Whitening Strips can't actually be bought from any retailers in the UK and my friend suggested I try either websites which import them or Ebay. I actually found them to be cheaper on websites and bought my fourteen day supply (this is recommended as the best duration to use them for) from www.discounthealthproducts.co.uk where a fourteen day supply set me back £16.45 excluding postage costs. For this money I got twenty eight small foil packets which equated to a fourteen day supply as it's recommended that you apply the whitening strips twice a day for the most effective results. I'm not sure why they're not sold in the UK in stores such as Boots, I've not been able to find any information on the internet regarding this nor is there anyone who has reported negative effects.

The foil packets are light blue and silver in colour and contain the basic information such as brand and product name, they've also got a small incision on one side which enables you to tear the packet easily without damaging the contents. Inside is a clear plastic sheet which contains two strips, one for your upper teeth and one for your lower teeth. The plastic also has incisions on meaning it's easy to remove the strips without removing the whitening solution on your fingers. The directions suggest that you apply the top strip first, carefully ensuring it covers all your teeth and recommending that you push it into the gaps between your teeth too, before folding the bottom bit up under your teeth. The same process should then be repeated with the smaller strip which is meant for your bottom teeth, all in all quite easy really.

The top strip is longer and slightly thinner than the bottom strip, it's about 7cm in length and about 2cm in width while the bottom strip is about 5cm in length and about 2.5cm in width. Although the strips don't actually look that big on the piece of plastic I found that they covered nearly all my teeth, the top one more than covered my front and side teeth with the bottom one doing the same. I did read somewhere that someone had used two strips on their top teeth and two on their bottom so they could cover all their teeth. However I was only really bothered about the ones that would be visible when I smiled or talked and found the strips to be perfectly long enough to more than adequately cover my teeth. I also think it would be quite hard to position two strips and to keep them in place if they reached right to the back.

It doesn't recommend that you should clean your teeth or anything like that before applying the strips although I do tend to "dry" them with my finger as I find the strips stick better. Once they're in your mouth the sensation is quite strange to start with, it just feels like you have ridged cling film on your teeth that tastes a little bit sanitised in someway. Crest suggest you can wear the strips when you're doing pretty much anything as they're invisible from about a metre away, although they do suggest you don't eat or drink while they're in and I've also found talking a little difficult as my tongue can dislodge the strips. Although they do stay in place quite easily they can become dislodged or move slightly when you swallow or talk but they're easy enough to push back into place with your tongue I've found really.

The directions suggest that you leave the strips on for thirty minutes each time you apply them. Once the time has passed you can simply remove the strips with your finger and brush your teeth thoroughly, the strips do leave a gloopy like clear residue on my teeth that doesn't taste particularly nice so I do always brush after use. I've not encountered any negative side effects while using these, my front teeth have perhaps been a tiny bit more sensitive (especially when I ate an ice lolly the other night) but I certainly haven't experienced any pain whatsoever as the dental teeth whitening method has been reported to cause. My friend who used them also said she didn't have any side effects at all, her teeth didn't increase in sensitivity either during or after using these strips so they do seem quite safe really.

Now onto the most important point of this review... do they actually work? Well I've just finished my fourteen day supply of them but during this period I noted any changes to my teeth so here we go...

Day 3 - I couldn't really see any obvious changes at all, my teeth weren't anymore sensitive than they had been before and any colour changes that had occurred didn't seem to be visible to the naked eye at all.

Day 7 - I personally couldn't see any colour changes to my teeth but my mum and my friend did comment that they did look whiter than when they had previously seen me... I still wasn't really convinced.

Day 10 - I thought that my teeth were looking a shade whiter, especially my top teeth although one small white bit of my tooth (due to decalcification I believe) did appear to be positively glowing white now!

Day 14 - I reckon that my teeth have definitely lightened in colour, they're far from glowing white and the change isn't really that noticeable but on photos they certainly look both cleaner and whiter now.

Overall I would thoroughly recommend the Crest White Strips, they've certainly had a positive impact on my teeth for a very small financial cost. The directions suggest that the effects will last for twelve months but I can't really comment on this. Arguably the result isn't perhaps as noticeable as the professional dental teeth whitening would produce but I personally think my teeth look much more natural than with dental whitening where they really are paper white. They only cost £16.45 which I've practically spent before on two tubes of whitening toothpaste which had no effect whatsoever! If you do wish to try these then the site I suggested above seems to be reliable or you can of course try Ebay although they didn't seem much cheaper on there. Five stars from me, an easy way to get whiter teeth!

Thanks for reading.