Whitestrips

When two dentists in a row recommended Whitestrips over more expensive tooth-whitening products, my inner Scrooge McDuck was giddy. It's always great when experts sing the praises of relatively inexpensive treatments over spendy ones. Alas, the original Whitestrips formula requires users to wear 30 minutes a day, and frankly, that is too much of a commitment for me.

But now I am back on the Whitestrips bandwagon because of a new variety. Crest has released a tartar-control version that promises to whiten teeth and reduce tartar — and the best part is that you have to wear the strips for only five minutes a day. I've been using these for the past two weeks, and I'm already seeing pearlier whites. What's more, I credit them with minimizing a stubborn bit of tartar that always seems to pop up on my incisors. Usually I have to break out the ol' Sonicare to get rid of that buildup, but now my chompers are clean without it.

Since my teeth are brighter and cleaner, the new Whitestrips a big thumbs-up from me. The retail price is $39.99, but you can get a $7 coupon to make the price more palatable.

Lately, I've been thinking of having my teeth whitened at Brite Smile, but the idea of spending a few hundred dollars for gleaming chompers doesn't sit so well with my inner cheapskate. So this morning, I asked my dentist which method he recommended.

"Honestly," he said—and I paraphrase—"I'd just get some Whitestrips." He went on to say that while Brite Smile would give me slightly better results than Whitestrips, he didn't think the difference was worth the significantly larger cost.

He's not the only one. My former dentist once told me the same thing: Whitestrips are effective and relatively inexpensive. Thought you all might like to know that in my completely informal survey, the at-home stuff gets the thumbs-up from dentists. It's been a few years since I've done Whitestrips, so I'm curious: Do you think they work? Or would you rather save up and do something like Brite Smile?