The "A Whiter Smile" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Flashback to last summer .... Sitting in an overstuffed armchair, gazing at the waves lapping the shore.  Carol and I are spending the week in Stone Harbor, New Jersey with my brother Steve and sister-in-law Kathy.  We began making visits to the shore with them two years ago and had such a great time that we have continued our new tradition.  Our nephew Matt and his wife Katie are also spending the week and we're having fun catching up on their busy lives.  Katie recently made a visit to St. Martin with a few of her girlfriends, for which we sat and gave her our recommendations for the week, and we are anxious to hear what they managed to accomplish during their week's vacation which was interrupted by a hurricane.  Our niece, Kelly, and her husband Shawn will also be visiting for a few days later in the week.  Their children's school and Kelly's teaching don't allow them to spend the entire week at the shore.  It was last year at this time that I sat on the same chair and held Steve's youngest grandchild, three-year old Allison, while reading a book to her.  As I was reading she stared at me with her big baby-blue eyes, and forever long eyelashes, for the longest time and said, "Your teeth are funny!"  "I know they are," I replied.  I have known for years that with all the ice tea and dark sodas that I drink my teeth have become discolored.  I even have had fillings placed in a few teeth that were less than white in order to have them match my teeth.  Well, all because of Allison, I decided to visit my dentist and have my teeth whitened.  For those readers who have gone through the event, you know what to expect, but I thought I would tell the rest of my readers exactly what happens and if it works.  First of all, it is not inexpensive.  Cost is $200, but it includes the molds, mouthpieces, all materials and as many visits to the dentist's office that I care to make.  Before Dr. Jim began making the molds, he told me, "You're the oldest male patient that I have ever tried to whiten their teeth.  Will be fun to see what happens with teeth that are that old."  I'm not sure if I was supposed to be excited about the whole thing after his comment or be fearful.  Didn't change my mind though.  The molds were the worst part of the entire operation to date.  His hygienist mixed a "potion" which was placed in a metal mold the shape of my mouth and then the mold was forced onto my lower teeth.  No pain or problems whatsoever.  After about a minute he removed the metal mold and he had the impression needed to make a plaster-of-paris casting.  Then the same thing was done on the top teeth, but this time I began gagging and he had to remove the metal mold in about 20 seconds after placing it on my upper teeth.  "Didn't work," he said.  "I'll have to try it again."  This time he allowed me sit in a more upright position and told me to breath in through my nose and breath out through my mouth.  Mold was made on the second try with no problems.  

The "Kit" contains my molds on the bottom
left, my mouthpieces on the bottom right,
The syringes and tooth paste with whitener.

His impressions were sent to a lab where they made the plaster-of-paris forms and very thin clear synthetic molds of my teeth.  Dr. Jim, on my next visit, showed me how to place the whitener in the new molds and place them in my mouth.  Could barely tell I had them in my mouth.  He suggested just doing the front six teeth on top and bottom.  "Don't waste the gel on the other teeth, since no one looks past the front six," he said.  The oldest patient went home and did the routine for four hours every evening after supper.  Dr. Jim suggested I keep the gel and molds in my mouth overnight, but I opted to do the four hours in the evening.  Matter-of-fact, if you could see me typing this story, you would see the molds in my mouth right now.  After two weeks of this, and forgetting to do the routine about a third of the time, I went back to Dr. Jim.  "He held his sample tooth color to my mouth and said to his hygienist, "That's amazing!  I can't believe they turned that white in only two weeks of night-time use."  I wasn't sure if I should tell him about my half-time sessions and missing every third night, but I did.  He was impressed …. or maybe I should say I was lucky …. that they turned THAT white in such a short period of time.  He told me to continue with another appointment set for the near future when I could decide if I want to have one filling removed (half of one of my teeth) and replaced to match my new white teeth.  At least I have now become the oldest male with the whitest teeth in the shortest amount of time to visit his office.  Can't wait to see what Allison says this year.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.