Zoom Teeth Whitening Review

by Daniela Collins
(Auckland)

white bright teeth

Having bright white teeth can make you look years younger. Needless to say, many man and women are not hesitating to follow the latest trend and get their teeth whitened.

Zoom! the 1 hour teeth whitening is one of the cosmetic dental procedure performed by a dentist. It works by applying a bleaching gel to the teeth which is then activated by the blue Zoom light.

Since I have seen it many make-over TV shows where peoples teeth have been magically transformed, I decided that it was time to bleach away years of staining on my teeth. I didn’t think my teeth were badly stained, but they seemed to have that yellow touch to it, that just wasn’t going to come off even with my fancy electric tooth brush.

So I went off to my appointment at a cosmetic dentistry clinic. I have been told the procedure would take about an hour. Within the hour there are 3 sessions of 15 minutes with the zoom light.
The dentist checked my teeth to make sure that I was a good candidate for the zoom whitening procedure. Lucky enough, I was, although I was warned that a small filling between one of my front teeth may show up as dark spot after the whitening. Not much to worry though, as the filling can be re-done, so I was told.

The dentist and her assistant placed a plastic peace into my mouth to keep the mouth open and teeth exposed. Then they placed gauze all around my gums to protect the gums. This by itself was rather unpleasant, as a lot of gauze where pushed into every corner of my mouth. After this, the dentist applied several different solutions onto my teeth, finishing with the bleaching gel.

About 20 minutes into the appointment the first session of zoom light started. The zoom light was placed directly onto the mouth for 15 minutes.

After the light was placed onto my mouth, the assistant informed me that I may have some stinging and placed a bell into my hand in case I couldn’t take it anymore. This was not very encouraging.

It didn’t take long, before I’ve started to regret doing this. Once the bleaching action started the teeth became unbearably sensitive. The stinging sensation was so unpleasant and painful that I hardly could take it. All I could think off was, how on earth will I get though 2 more of these sessions?

The 15 minutes felt more like 15 hours and after the zoom light switched off, my teeth where re-coated.

Once I’ve been through 3 sessions, I had tears running down my face. My teeth felt like there would never re-cover from such invasive treatment. After an hour in the mouth stretcher I could barely talk. The dentist gave me a mirror to check the result, which where I have to say brilliant. However, my gums didn’t look so brilliant. In some places, where the solutions has reached the gums, they where as white as the teeth. The dentist assured me this would go away soon.

After paying a hefty bill for my painful bright teeth, I’ve was given a after-care card that instructed me to stay away from any dark staining substances for 24 hours.

It also said, that the teeth might be still sensitive for a couple of days and that I could take some Panadol for pain relief. This advice I took straight away. The rest of the day I spend on the couch with painful sensitive teeth. My gums started to turn dark and looked like dying flesh.

After 2 days, the sensitivity has subsided. The gums are still recovering and are too sore to brush.

This is not how I pictured my zoom tooth whitening experience. I do have to say, that the result is really great. I have tried home whitening kits, that did not even come close to the same result. However, I’m not sure if I would want to go through the same procedure again.


Have you had a good or bad experience with tooth whitening? Let us know by writing your own cosmetic review or place a comment below.