Crest 3D Professional Effects Whitestrips - Day 20 - Multi-Part Review

I really can't believe that just 20 short days ago I was starting out with teeth like this:

After 10 days they were noticeably whiter and looked a bit more like this:

Now, after 20 days of use I can share with you that my teeth look like this:

 
I really wish I'd had better lighting or a better way to take the pictures because I really don't think they do justice to how white my teeth are now. To be completely honest, even with using whitening toothpaste daily I don't think my teeth have been this white in 10 or more years.

When I started on Day 1 I expected them to get minimally whiter over the next 20 days. Since the whitening toothpastes I've tried over the years haven't given me the whitest of teeth, I figured maybe my teeth were somehow protected against whiteners. They had whitened a little, but very little, over the years with the use of whitening toothpastes and whitened just slightly more when I used a whitening mouthwash for a short period before I got married in 2011.

Twenty days of using these Crest strips has really whitened my teeth significantly. It's amazing. As much as we try to not base thoughts and opinions on how someone looks, their outward appearances sometimes have an affect on the way they are perceived. Since my teeth have been whiter I have felt more confident about smiling for sure! It's a lot easier to flash a big smile when you know your teeth don't look like they've been steeping in some tea or a coffee mug that was forgotten on the counter.

Overall I am really impressed with the way these work. The box promised that I would start seeing results after 3 days with full results after 20 and it was right. I actually saw results immediately on Day 1 and the results continued to get better and whiter every day after that.

During the course of treatment I did experience some tooth sensitivity. I knew that this was supposed to be temporary and it was. Sometimes the sensitivity lasted just a couple of hours and for one longer bout it lasted about 2 days. My teeth were most sensitive to the cold, so I just tried to drink more warm beverages and be careful about too much mouth breathing. I'm not sure if I had built up a tolerance to whatever was making them sensitive or something, but by Days 17-20 or so I was experiencing only minor sensitivity which lasted minutes at a time instead of hours.

I would gladly recommend these to anyone who is trying to get white teeth and has about a month in which to do it. For just 20 minutes a day for 20 days, the payoff is great. The price, at $35 - $50 depending on where you purchase it, isn't that bad either when you think about what you would spend in cash and time (and time is just as valuable as cash to me!) to go to the dentist to have it done. The directions say you can use up to 2 kits per year, so for $70 - $100 and just 1200 minutes a year you could have a dramatically whiter smile.

When you read it like that, 1200 minutes a year may seem like a lot, but I promise it's not as bad as it sounds. It's really not as bad as driving to the dentist to have whitening treatments done in office. If you have a 30 minute commute to work, you could even apply them before you pulled out of your driveway and peel them off when you arrived at work. Now when you read it that way, does wearing the strips for 30 minutes a day REALLY sound like that much of a time commitment?

So what have you thought of these if you've tried them? If you're looking for a whitening product, will you be trying these? If so I'd love to hear how they work out for you!

Disclaimer: I received this product complimentary for testing purposes from Influenster.