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| So one day, while burning some gas at a stop-light, I ran across what would be the final straw. There, staring at me like a row of brand new toilets was Maury Provich's upper row of teeth. And while they were supposed to be informing me that Maury and his show had moved to a different network, what they really did was inspire me to finally find out what all the fuss is about when it comes to extremely white teeth. |
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| So I went to the local RiteAid, found the 'teeth aisle' and began to wade through all the product options available to me. Not having done any homework beforehand, I decided to take the safe route and pick a product based on brand familiarity - Crest. And why not, the box boldly states that I could make my teeth 19 again (whatever that is worth) in a mere 7 days! |
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| So I picked up the box and headed for the checkout... when suddenly I noticed the first effect of being a Whitestrip user. As I was waiting in line I suddenly became insecure of my smile. Not wanting to look like I was shoplifting or anything, I had held the bright blue Whitestrip box out in the open. I could almost feel everyone in the store staring at me and waiting for me to part my lips just enough so they could get a glimpse of my teeth. At one point I even checked to make sure the box had a clear bar code on it as so to avoid a 'I NEED A PRICE CHECK ON WHITESTRIPS ON ASILE 2' moment. Anyway, after what felt like over an hour in line, I made it to the checkout only to have the lady behind the counter ask me - 'do these things work?' |
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| Wanting to just stuff the item in an opaque bag and hit the door at this point, I sort of snapped back with a 'I will have to get back to you in two weeks on that.' |
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| the test |
| So here is the deal, the 'directions' say that you have to wear these things on your upper and lower teeth for 30 minutes everyday for 15 days. The strips, which sort of look like textured saran-wrap cut outs with goo on them, come in 'easy to open packages' and have to be applied one at a time. Below is my day by day account of the 'Whitestrip Experience'. If you would like to make a comment about a specific photo, just click on it. Else, you may leave your thoughts at the bottom of this article. A complete photo album is available here as well. Enjoy. |
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| Before |
| As with any 'experiment', you have to have a BEFORE photo. Well, here is mine. As you can see, I am so ashamed of my teeth that I almost never even smile. |
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| Day 1 : 10.12.05 |
| Dear Whitestrip Diary... opening package was hard, application of the strips was hard and the taste was bad. Not a good start. And while I'm sure the application part will get easier with experience, I did discover that you can't drink diet coke for the 30 minutes while you are whitestrippin'.
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| Day 2 : 10.13.05 |
| Dear Whitestrip Diary... the package opened without use of pocket knife this time, and the application process went much smoother. Apparently there is a 'this way up' method i was previously unaware of.
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| Day 3 : 10.14.05 |
| Dear Whitestrip Diary... I believe I may have miss-spoke earlier in the week. The taste of the Whitestrips while on isn't all that noticeable, but the after-taste is awful. It takes at least a can and a half of diet coke to rinse it all out.
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| Day 4 : 10.15.05 |
| Dear Whitestrip Diary... today I noticed that these things sort of make my teeth sensitive. No, not emotionally, but in the sort of way a dentist cleaning on new-trainee day will make your grill feel a bit touchy. It kind of reminds me of the feeling I got right after you had the screws tightened on your braces back in junior high.
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| Day 5 : 10.18.05 |
| Dear Whitestrip Diary... so much for the 'directions'. After deciding to take the weekend off, I just flat out forgot on Monday. So to make up, I left today's strips in for 45 minutes. Furthermore, I learned that if you save the straw from lunch, you can still ingest copious amounts of diet coke while strippin'. Suddenly 30 minutes doesn't seem so bad.
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| Day 6 : 10.19.05 |
| Dear Whitestrip Diary... I bet that gellin' with some of those dr. shoals things is more fun than strippin'. Heck, I bet they taste better too! At one point today I actually thought about tossing in the towel on this whole experiment. They just taste nasty and I am not seeing any progress. A lot better happen soon because I am really starting to doubt the '14 years in 7 days' claim. |
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| Day 7 : 10.20.05 |
| Dear Whitestrip Diary... today I noticed that talking on the phone is a challenge. Your mouth gets really dry and you tend to lisp a lot with these things in your mouth. Furthermore, I am having trouble admitting to people in the office that I'm actually doing this and just act like there is nothing on my teeth when talking. I know it is obvious, but I guess that I am still 'new enough' around here to where asking would just be too awkward.
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| Day 8 : 10.21.05 |
| Dear Whitestrip Diary... perhaps the lighting was just a little different in the office today, but it sure looked like there was a slight difference being made. Not sure it looks like 14 years different (once again, whatever that means), but I do think something is finally going on. |
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| Day 9 : 10.24.05 |
| Dear Whitestrip Diary... after taking my daily photo, I noticed that i need a haircut more than anything else. On the positive side of things, I did notice that now that i'm 9 days into this experience and the WhiteStrip box closes much easier than it did when it was new. |
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| Day 10 : 10.25.05 |
| Dear Whitestrip Diary... today I feel especially chatty, so here we go. The driving force behind this whole experiment was my front left tooth. You see, back in high school I had one of those bic 4 color pens and while chewing on it, I accidentally snapped it in my mouth. As a result, one of the color punches cracked my tooth and it began to turn brown. My dentist said that I had endured what he calls 'tooth trauma' but that the tooth seemed to be doing a root canal on its own. So, while significant dentistry activity was averted, my tooth was now a shade darker than any of its peers. Why am i telling you this? Well it appears that all of my teeth are getting lighter at the same rate, so the dark tooth is still darker than all the others. I am thinking of cutting some of the remaining strips up and tailoring them just for this one tooth. That might even things out, but would throw off the whole 'experiment'. Hmmm. |
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| Day 11 : 10.26.05 |
| Dear Whitestrip Diary... well, even if this whole experiment fails, at least it motivated me to get a hair cut. I did notice today that my teeth were not as sensitive to the treatment as they were in the first few days, so that is a good thing. Not sure if that 'just happened', or if this was more of a gradual thing. Either way, the straw discovery and the lack of sensitivity makes this whole 30 minute thing not such a big deal... until the phone rings anyway. |
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| Day 12 : 10.28.05 |
| Dear Whitestrip Diary... it is Monday morning and the end of this experiment is now in sight. It is a good thing, I'm really starting to run out of daily props for these 'scientific photo shoots'. |
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| Day 13 : 10.29.05 |
| Dear Whitestrip Diary... things got really busy here at the office today and I almost forgot to go strippin'. By the time I remembered, it was already dark outside (time change) so it was really hard to judge any progress.
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| Day 14 : 10.30.05 |
| Dear Whitestrip Diary... only one more day of all this nonsense, so my mood is really good. Everyone around the office is now aware that I am doing this, but I have still yet to openly step out of the WhiteStrip closet. Progress has clearly been made, but nobody (at home or the office) has noticed.
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| Day 15 : 10.31.05 |
| Dear Whitestrip Diary... hooray, I've made it to the other side. I can now hit all those Whitestrip blogs and claim to be 'one of them'. Anyway, this whole thing did make my teeth a little whiter, but not Maury Provich'esq white. Perhaps you have to step up to that $500 dollar Zooooom thing they have been pushing on me at the dentist office. Dunno, but you can count on me not going down that road. Well, seeing how today is Halloween I think I'll go home and take a giant tooth whitening leap backwards by trick-o-treating with my little girl. I hope my diary has been of some help to all of you who are seeking a whiter smile. |
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- 11/6/2005 10:10:13 PM
