Professional Tooth Whitening Tested

During our visit to the Beauty UK Show at the NEC in Birmingham on 22nd May 2016, we came across several stands for tooth whitening products.
One such stand, Professional Teeth Whitening, drew our attention due to the pearly white teeth of the sales staff, who assured us that their gleaming smiles were attained by use of their product - A bold claim, but we were sold!

The discounted show price for one bottle of Professional Teeth Whitening Gel and the application media (strips of embossed plastic tape) cost just £40 - Normal price is quoted at £79.95 for the gel, and £24.95 for the strips.

This small bottle is supposed to last a year but, as explained by the sales staff, once whitening has been achieved, after a maximum of 28 days, the treated teeth will stay white.


So, is it legal for beauty salons to perform tooth whitening treatments? The short answer is no - There is much information regarding this subject available on the Internet, with some arguing that it is legal. Clarification of the situation can be found at http://safetoothwhitening.org/faqs-for-beauticians/

Despite the fact that it is not legal to provide tooth whitening treatments in salon, we purchased a kit for personal use, and as a trial to see if this product actually works - We had previously tested another product, also purchased at a beauty show, but that did not produce positive results - See the blog at http://skyebluebeauty.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/megawhite-teeth-whitening-tested.html
Professional Teeth Whitening contains the legal amount of peroxide, so is a different whitening process to Megawhite. We hoped this would mean a different result....

Our test subject for this trial is the same person who assisted with the Megawhite trial. He loves tea, coffee, red wine, and possibly more things that you should avoid if you want white teeth. So this is a true challenge for any tooth whitening product. He says "I was a bit nervous of putting Hydrogen Peroxide in my mouth, so tried once a day for a few weeks before having the confidence to do the treatment multiple times per day. Working during the week meant that four times a day was difficult, so three treatments per day were settled upon"

How to use: Simply apply the gel to the application strip and position on the teeth for 20 to 30 minutes, repeated 1-4 times per day for 7, 14, or 28 days (dependent on sensitivity). It is claimed that results can be seen after only 1 day, which is an exciting prospect, so we compiled a photo diary to see if this is actually possible.


Due to the slow start of the trial and the size of the task at hand, we ran the trial for a total of 52 days - More than enough time to achieve a noticeable result.
The first photo is at day 1, and subsequent photos are dated to give an indication of the progress of the trial.




18/07/2016

26/07/2016

09/08/2016

20/08/2016

30/08/2016

08/09/2016

There may be a marginal improvement in tooth shade over the 52 days, but no significant change - Note that the photo on 8th September is a brighter exposure, despite efforts to ensure the lighting was consistent throughout the trial. The photo at day 43 (30th August) is almost identical, although you could argue that some staining has been reduced.


Conclusion: Despite an extended period of use, no noticeable improvement of tooth shade was achieved, so we conclude that the Professional Teeth Whitening Gel does not produce the results advertised.