Bleaching Teeth

Today was the day that I thought I should adapt part of the email I wrote to Intensecure and write about the bleaching of my teeth. It's rather complicated as to why I need to get it done, but it's not entirely for simple aesthetic reasons. I thought that I'd get organized for once, take pictures, take my medications, then start bleaching. I forgot to take my medications first, and I've tried to do it during the process before, but it's tricky.

The bleaching is a customized-style, where I had to get a mould done for my front and bottom set of teeth, which I have to fill with a syringe containing a bleaching serum. This is very strong stuff. Forget using Sensodyne, because it's not going to help with the sharp pains with chewing, cold or hot water, inhaling, sometimes even when I'm just sitting there and leaving it alone. It also squeezes out, gets mixed with saliva and I have to spit it out every minute or so. A lot of it gets swallowed inadvertently. The moulds aren't quite deep enough to cover the top of the teeth, which is where it's most discoloured, but on the whole, it gets instantly noticeably white very quickly.

The trays, as they're called, come in the lovely green case and the syringes are neatly packaged in packs of four in the box to the right.

The contents:















I started with eight beautifully designed syringes with metallic lettering and accents, etc. It did not come with many instructions, except something like "Remove cap. Fill container with a line of the syringe contents. Fit securely on teeth." No comments on how long I should use it, whether it can be used overnight, how much should be used, etc. I finished two treatments with one full syringe at a time, because it was a waste (and inconvenient) for it to be constantly gushing out, but that was still a bit too much, so I ended up using about a quarter of it per treatment. I finished the first set of four syringes and my cousin, who is my dentist, said that my teeth still weren't white enough. The assistant said to use about half a syringe each time, leave it on for at least four hours and avoid drinks that may cause discolouring, like orange or cranberry juice and artificial drinks. Otherwise, I could use a straw and try my best not to touch the teeth. I have stayed away for anything that could remotely cause discolouration, because this bleaching is tough work.

Here I am, dutifully working away at it. I think the four hours are almost over. I have a problem with grinding my teeth and I'm starting to worry that I'd bite through the trays. My jaws are stiff from trying to clench while simultaneously trying to control myself. The excess isn't so bad today. It wasn't entirely necessary for me to have to keep getting up to spit it out in the sink, but I think I've probably swallowed a lot of the half portion of the syringe. The syringe has a suction feature to it, so it's impossible to reuse it for anything else once it's empty. I think I should go spit out now.