Earlier this summer, I received an email from Smile Brilliant, a company that created a tooth whitening system which can be used within the privacy of your own home.  And—it’s far less costly than whitening at the dentist’s office (and does  insurance even cover the cost of whitening your teeth at the dentist’s office anyway?).  They asked if I would be interested in trying out the Smile Brilliant Whitening System for review.

It was intriguing to me because as I’ve aged, my teeth aren’t as bright as they used to be in my younger days.  A lifetime of drinking tea (I come from an Irish tea-drinking family), decades of drinking coffee, red wine and just the nature of things have caused my teeth to fade into a lighter shade of yellow rather than a lighter shade of pale!

I’ll explain how I went from more yellow on the left, to a brighter shade of pale on the right!

But—the good thing is genetically, I’ve got strong choppers.  Other than a front capped tooth from opening a package of hot dogs with my teeth (don’t ever do that—I ripped the enamel right off my tooth), every tooth in my mouth is mine.

Regardless, I thought it would be a good idea to try the Smile Brilliant system out to see if it worked.

When my package came in the mail, I was both excited and apprehensive.  And the box was chock-full of materials to use along with reading materials and very specific instructions on how to use them in order to start the process of brightening my dull teeth!

Simple packaging but when opened…

It was Christmas for teeth!  I’ll admit it was a bit overwhelming–with the base paste, the catalyst paste, the trays for the molds, the whitening and desenitizing gels!  Would I be capable of using this?

These plastic trays would be filled with the putty made for taking impressions of my teeth…

These pastes would make the putty to take the impressions and Smile Brilliant gave a good amount of this!

And last but not least are the two gels that would bring brightness back to my dull, aging teeth!

The instructions were very clear and concise and definitely easy to follow.

The first step was to make the impressions of both my upper teeth and my lower teeth.  To do this, the catalyst past and the base paste are kneaded together until a blue putty is achieved.  The putty is then placed into a blue mold and then you put the mold with the putty in your mouth.  If you mess up, the kit comes with extra catalyst and base pastes.

I bit down on the cold putty that was in the blue tray and relaxed a bit…

Then I repeated the process on my bottom teeth.  You can see from this pic that my top teeth are looking a bit on the dull side..

I followed the directions, and when I took the mold from my mouth, I compared it to the photo of the “good” impression that came with the instructions.  It looked fine to me –and so, I placed the molds in the pink envelope that Smile Brilliant included and sent it off! I was trying to imagine what the clear custom fit trays that would be sent back would look and feel like!

I must say, I was impressed with my impressions!  For once in my life I followed instructions!!!

I filled out a little card, placed the molds in this pretty pink envelope and waited!!

There’s nothing like anticipation.  And I was really getting excited about the clear trays being sent back to me.  I was also nervous that I would get a notice that my impressions weren’t good and I would have to redo them.

Alas!  The trays for my teeth arrived and they were perfect!  They fit my teeth like a glove. I’m not kidding—but more on that later.

I was so excited to receive the envelope containing my clear trays molded to my teeth!!

The clear trays came housed in this cute little case.  My main objective beside bleaching my teeth was making sure Chippy wasn’t able to find this and snack on it.  He’s the dog who will eat anything in his path!

Here’s the trays.  They were molded beautifully!

The night before I planned to start the process I was eating pistachios and cut my gum on a shell.  Don’t judge.  Yes.  I was opening the shells with my teeth—you would think that after my hot dog package incident I would learn my lesson.

So, a few days later and I was finally able to start the bleaching/whitening process.

TThe first step is to line the molds with the Desensitizing Gel that comes in plastic syringes.  This is key for the comfort of your gums.  Following the instructions to snap open the cap of the gel, I filled the trays with the proper amount, fit into my mouth and kept it there for 25 minutes.  The instructions state from 15-20 minutes but I gave myself an extra five.

I lined the clear trays with a light coating of the Desensitizing Gel..

And waited 25 min.  YOU CANNOT TELL I HAVE THE TRAYS IN MY MOUTH!!!! The fit is THAT good!

When time was up, I spit out the gel and after wiping the trays from the desensitizing gel,  applied the whitening gel to the trays and popped them back in my mouth.

Next step–Whitening Gel!!!

I did a teeth-whitening Flamenco dance!  In place of a rose in my mouth, I danced around with the syringe!

Easy peasy and quite fun.  I’m just in love with these clear trays!!

Ain’t gonna lie.  I love the trays.  They feel so good and the way they fit is just so perfect.  You can’t even tell you are wearing them—I went shopping with them on.  A slight lisp was the only detection that I had them in my mouth.  The other great thing about these trays is that I’ve worn them without the gels because they are a great diet aid!  I don’t eat anything when the trays are on my teeth!  Smile Brilliant should only know that the clear trays are multi-taskers!  Add to that, when I slept with them on, I didn’t grind my teeth!

Oh and these trays are a great diet aid and keep you from grinding your teeth at night!  Now if they could only pick out a winning lottery ticket for me…

You can whiten your teeth anywhere in the window of 45 minutes to three hours.  It depends on your sensitivity level.  I’m about as sensitive as a moose in the forest during the middle of a snow storm so for me, I went the full three.

After the first session I did notice brightening on my top teeth, and were surprised that my bottom teeth were noticeably lighter.

First session over and I noticed a difference.

The second session had me admiring the job on my top teeth a bit more.

A lazy day with not much to do–but a great day for taking care of my teeth!

I even managed to film a YouTube Chat video with my clear trays intact.  I’ll be doing a video review on the teeth whitening sometime next week!

Getting brighter after the second session!

Now—I did an experiment during the third session.  I didn’t use the desensitizing gel.  Since I was reviewing, I wanted to be completely transparent and wanted to see if the desensitizing gel really worked.

It did.  Without prior application of the desensitizing gel, and straight to the whitening gel, my gums burned.  But not enough to make me stop the session.  The burn went away after a half hour. Still, I would not advise using the whitening gel without using the desensitizing gel first.  It really is a very necessary step.

The end result after four at-home sessions is that I’m very pleased.  I’ll definitely be using this before Oona’s wedding next summer.  Did my teeth become the pearly white chicklets that we see on celebrities, models, and Instagram beauties?  No. They did not—and I wasn’t expecting them to either.  Although my teeth needed brightening, I’ve never had pure white teeth.  They’ve always been more of a vanilla shade.  And the years have dulled them.  In fact, I’ve had my teeth professionally whitened when I was in my thirties and Smile Brilliant did as good a job if not better!

There are different kits to choose from with price points of $149 up to $189.  The kits come in a variety of strengths.   And it’s worth the money.  Another good thing is that the whitening and the desensitizing gels can be purchased separately without the kids.  I plan on getting more!

Overall, how would I rate this?  A solid A.

My rating is based on the comfort and ease in using the system and the fact it does what it says it will.

As we age, so many body parts change.  One of the changes is with our teeth.  Our enamel isn’t as strong as it once was.  Years of coffee, tea and wine stains can make our aging teeth dull and discolored.  Smokers have it worse.  And the other thing is that many are on fixed incomes and this is a more affordable way to add some luster and brightening to your teeth than to go to the dentist.

Toothcare is more than just brushing and flossing our teeth and this is more of a beauty product for your teeth!  And that’s a good thing because our pro-aging teeth should be beautiful too!

Like the rest of me my teeth are pro-aging.  And they have gotten lighter and brighter!   Enter the giveaway because you’ll have nothing to lose!!  I won’t steer you wrong!

Wanna try to restore your teeth to their youthful and brighter beauty?  Here’s a coupon for 15 % off your purchase. Copy and paste  atypical6015 to yourSmile Brilliant purchase!

And, for an additional burst of brilliance, there’s a giveaway!!! It ends two weeks from today–on September 6th!!!  And is open to all my friends in the USA, UK Australia and Canada!!!!!

Giveaway link: http://www.smilebrilliant.com/g