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With professional teeth whitening services costing anywhere from $500 to $1000 per session, at-home solutions to obtaining pearlier whites might be more feasible for you.
There are hundreds of at-home teeth-whitening brands, kits and products on the market, though, and being faced with so many all claiming to do the same thing can put you in a not-so-great headspace to make an effective financial decision. It’s why, in the past, we tapped experts to give it to us straight.
When speaking with Dr. Emanuel Layliev, the former president of the New York Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry and a premier cosmetic dentist at the New York Center for Cosmetic Dentistry in Manhattan, in 2020 to understand which exact at-home teeth whitening products are worth the money, we learned that the most popular at-home teeth-whitening method is also the most effective: whitening strips.
“They’ve been around for such a long time and I highly recommend them. And the reason I do think highly about them is because they’re just a medium that has the ability to stay on the teeth, because it’s all about contact time,” he explained at the time.
While effective, traditional white strips typically contain hydrogen or carbamide peroxide which can cause tooth sensitivity. If you’ve ever used a Crest White Strip you’ve probably experience short- or long-term irritation after use. That’s because the peroxide can reach your gums or the soft layer of dentin in your tooth enamel where the nerves are. Depending on how often you whiten your teeth, and your sensitivity level, this might might deter you from continual usage of whitening strips, and therefore, prevent you from achieving a whiter, brighter smile (most regimens recommend using whitening strips for at least a week or up to a month to see results). Having struggled with super-sensitive teeth ourselves, we sometimes find traditional whitening strips to be unbearably uncomfortable, even from the first use.
However, we might have found an alternative solution with oral care brand Lumineux.
Lumineux specializes in oral care products that are formulated with natural ingredients — specifically Dead Sea salt, coconut oil, lemon peel oil and aloe vera. The brand’s founder and CEO, dentist Dr. Kourosh Maddahi, was the first to use salt from the Dead Sea — which is loaded with minerals like calcium, magnesium, zinc and potassium — an entire oral care line to address a variety of oral health goals from whitening teeth to teeth sensitivity.
While Lumineux sells a variety of non-sensitive oral care products, including mouth wash and toothpaste, the brand’s whitening strips are the #1 best-selling teeth whitening product on Amazon. Obviously, we sought to figure out why.
After using Lumineux products daily for weeks, we have surprisingly experienced zero sensitivity — and visibly whiter teeth. Especially when used in conjunction with the brand’s whitening mouthwash and toothpaste, two products that also utilize the same natural ingredients to produce whiter teeth without sensitivity. The brand recommends using the strips for 7 consecutive days, then one to two times a week.
Overall, we’re quite impressed with our results. The all-natural strips successfully lifted stains left by copious amounts of coffee and red wine consumption without agitation or pain, which means we’ll actually stick to our teeth-whitening regimen this time.
You can pick up a pack of Lumineux’s Whitening Strips for $45, which includes 42 strips and 21 treatments (a 2-3 month supply).
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