For years I had considered having my teeth whitened, everyone seemed to be having it done and I was dying to wear a bright lipstick without feeling that it made my teeth glow yellow! Then one day I received my regular Groupon email and saw an offer on ‘Glow white’ teeth whitening for £30!
The info provided looked really impressive and professional so I went for it. As usual with these things they don’t disclose the name of address of where the procedure will take place, only the town it would be in.
When I confirmed my payment I was given the address and further info along with the name of the lady who would be doing the procedure. I looked at her website and again the info was really professional.
All excited about my new white teeth and thinking about which shade of lipstick would by on the way home, I set off. Now obviously when we got to the street I was looking out for a beauty salon or some kind of clinic but there was nothing but houses! We drove up and down the street a few times before I called the lady for directions and to my horror she gave me the same address I had and said to go to the house with the blue door and she would wait outside for me.
I couldn’t believe it, we were in the middle of a housing estate in front of a house that was far from inviting where I was supposed to be having my teeth done. Going inside was even worse, this was someone’s home! The lady lead me through her living room which looked like a she had never tidied up since moving in, past her husband having his dinner at the table and upstairs into her back bedroom! I have no idea why I didn’t run when I saw the house or even when I saw the living room and stepped over her dog to get up the stairs but what gets me most is that even when I was faced with a room that was empty apart from a sun longer (that looked like it had been rescued from a skip ) and some sort of lamp thingy, I still didn’t run!! What was I thinking, maybe I was just being polite!
Anyway the lady sat me in the sun lounger and put a retainer in my mount before she started squeezing the gel onto my teeth out of a small tube. Once the gel was on she left me sat under the lamp for what seemed like an eternity while she went to have her tea! She repeated this three times and by the third go my teeth were extremely sensitive , it even hurt to breath as I got a ‘zinging’ sensation each time I took a breath in, I was nearly crying in agony when she eventually came back in ( as she had disappeared again may be to watch TV or something and left me their alone!).
Finally it was over and she gave me a mirror to see the final results, but instead of looking at my new pearly white teeth I was looking at my gums which were covered in white speckles and my teeth didn’t look any different! Other than looking very matte and speckled (apparently this is normal), in fact my front two teeth looked like they had a white line going across them. I was so devastated but the lady just kept telling my the white marks on my gums would fade and then my teeth would look whiter in a few hours!! I couldn’t even muster up the energy to argue with her I just wanted to get out of that box room, get in my car and go!!
For the next 2-3 days I suffered with the worst tooth ache ever with horribly sensitive teeth.
I learnt a few thing from this experience.
1. Don’t trust just anyone to perform procedures like this go to a dentist or someone that specialises in teeth whitening!
2. The expression ‘ Don’t judge a book by it’s cover’ is true for most things in life however in situations like this if you don’t feel comfortable in your surroundings then leave! often the quality of the environment you are in is often a good indication of the quality of the treatment you are about to receive, DON’T TAKE THE RISK!!
3. If something seems too good to be true then it most likely is. At the end of the day you get what you pay for.
I later had the procedure redone by a dentist costing £300 and it was a much nicer experience with much better results.
Don’t get me wrong sensitivity is a side effect of the treatment but it was no where near as painful as the first time and the dentist was always there reassuring me unlike the lady that went off to have her tea!!
Anyone else out there had a similar experience?
Toodle-oo
Lisa xx
- Friday, August 30, 2013
- 22 Comments