ShopSmart puts teeth-whitening products to the test

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There are plenty of ways to come by a dazzling white smile, many of them available in local drugstores.
But how to choose without potentially disastrous results? For the upcoming September issue of ShopSmart, from Consumer Reports publisher Consumer Union, 82 staff members volunteered their grins in order to test the performance of eight whitening kits.

Their conclusion: The best bet for pearly whites is Crest Whitestrips Supreme, which retail for $50. The strips are meant to be worn for 21 days in 30-minute intervals twice a day. Testers praised the product’s whitening power, but some complained about the time commitment and the higher-than-average sensitivity.

Runners-up include the $24 Listerine Whitening Quick Dissolving strips, which effectively brightened smiles but left residue and occasionally ripped when panelists opened the package.
The $35 Crest Whitestrips Premium, which are to be applied for twice a day for seven days, were considered easy to use but not necessarily effective enough to be worth the effort. Testers were more favorable toward the $45 Crest Whitestrips Advanced Seal, which are put on teeth once a day for 14 days.
A few staffers complained of gum pain and bad fit with the $37 Aquafresh White Trays, but said the taste was more tolerable than other products.

But the general consensus was to nix weaker products such as the $17 Target Whitening Dissolving Strips, which testers said stuck to the inside of their lips or felt slimy. The $30 CVS Easy Fit Whitening Trays caused mouth or gum pain, they said. The iWhite Light-Activated Teeth Whitening Kit, retailing for $38, was considered both unattractive and unwieldy with its large size and blinking light.

-- Tiffany Hsu