30 Before 30 - Fix My Smile

You guys probably thought that I had given up on my whole 30 before 30 list now that I've turned the big three-oh. Well, I'm back on the wagon and am super pumped to complete the remainder of my list while I'm still in my early thirties.





One of the tasks that had been nagging me for some time was to fix my smile. Now I am no stranger to dental work and procedures - I donned a mouth full of braces at the ripe age of 9, battled my way through painful procedures to correct my bite and seem to be constantly battling yellowing teeth. Fun fact - when I was in University, I was so upset by my yellow smile that I begged my parents to allow me to whiten my teeth professionally with my dentist. The results were amazing, and did wonders for my self confidence but it came at a hefty price - dentists certainly aren't cheap!  Since then I've dabbled in periodically whitening my teeth with white strips and they're great, but it always bothered me that they only whitened my first four teeth.  As a whole-mouth-smiler, this was a problem. I was so happy when Smile Brilliant contact me and asked to review their product and I saw that is was the exact same system as my first dentist whitening experience - except you could do everything at home. After some initial research and reading their testimonials, I decided to go for it.

The set comes with everything you would need to successfully whiten your teeth, including a desensitizing gel which is important for me since my teeth are extremely sensitive on their own and even the white strips would irritate them.

I was nervous to make my own moulds, since I am notorious for screwing things up the first time around (think always having to have two application forms in case of mistakes - thats me) but it was surprisingly simple.  Basically you take the trays provided, mix the catalyst and base paste together and place the putty it produces in the trays, bite and send away!  The best part about this is that there was lots of putty left over, just in case I made a mistake!

In just over a week after sending out my imprints I got my moulds back - and a plaster impression of my teeth that has proved to be perfect for grossing Brian out. Plaster impressions in his briefcase? Check!

I have to say, I was really impressed with how fast the whole mail-to-moulds process took, especially as a Canadian. The price of the Smile Brilliant is also pretty incredible, only $119.95!  I don't want to disclose how much I paid for the similar whitening system from the dentist, but it was well over $500 (thanks mom and pops!)

I do have a few tips when completing the Smile Brilliant whitening system

• start slowly, especially if you have sensitive teeth.  Although the system recommends leaving the whitening trays on for 2+ hours at a time, I started in increments of 30 minutes and gradually worked my way up.
• Be sure not to overfill your moulds with whitening solution. I was so excited to get started once I got my moulds in the mail that I loaded them up with whitening solution and squished my teeth down in them- what a mess! Lesson learnt - a little goes a long way!
• Try to avoid coffee, tea and wine during your whitening period. If you follow me on Instagram, you know of my crazy coffee addiction so this was hard. Once I started to see results, it became way easier to cut out the java.

Overall I'm genuinely impressed with this system, not only for how easy the whole process is but also because I continue to see results. Check out my gross before picture, and compare it to the photo above - crazy, right!

So another 30 before 30 task has been completed! I'm happy that I finally bit the bullet and improved my smile, it does wonders for my confidence. It feels good to be back on the 30 before 30 train, I can't wait to see the next task that I check off my list!

Have you ever tried at-home teeth whitening?  What were your results?

xo Joëlle

Whitening system sent to me courtesy of Smile Brilliant. All opinions and experiences are 100% my own.