You may have already heard of teeth whitening brand Spotlight Oral Care, created in 2016 by two sisters who both studied dentistry in Ireland. Spotlight has been running promotions all across social media in the UK.
I didn’t take too much notice of them at first, I’m not their typical target audience. The campaign features young ‘Influencers’ and reality TV peoples with perfect smiles and alarmingly white teeth in the ‘after’ photos.
SPOTLIGHT ORAL CARE
As dentists, we learn about teeth. If you want to whiten your teeth you need an active ingredient. It is much easier to bring a product to market that doesn’t have an active ingredient. Our active ingredient is hydrogen peroxide – commonly known as bleach. It has negative connotations but it’s not a bad material if used appropriately in a controlled form.
With our strips, they are applied so tightly to the teeth that it increases the effectiveness. As it’s not a super high concentration, a lower concentration of active ingredient means it needs to be right there at the teeth.
The only other teeth whitening strips I’ve heard of are by Crest. They were banned in the UK for a while because of the percentage of hydrogen peroxide which can cause teeth sensitivity and thinning of the enamel in high amounts.
However, buried among various online reviews were a couple from an older age group who said that while the strips didn’t give them dazzling white smiles, they did help to brighten teeth and lift stains. I thought – that’s good enough for me.
SPOTLIGHT ORAL CARE TEETH WHITENING STRIPS
This Teeth Whitening System includes a full 14-day course of strips and a 100 ml toothpaste to maintain results.
HOW TO USE
Dry your teeth and apply 1 strip to the top and bottom row of teeth. Leave them on for 1 hour. After, remove the strips and rinse away any residual gel. Use the whitening toothpaste for maximum results. Repeat every day for 2 weeks.
Afterwards, use a couple of times a week to maintain the whiteness.
Not suitable for pregnant or breastfeeding women.
REVIEW
Naturally, I went the whole hog and bought the full kit with toothpaste, floss, whitening pen (which I haven’t used yet) and mouthwash, they all contain small amounts of hydrogen peroxide which is key to the whitening process. The bundle of 14 strips and toothpaste costs £40.00 Boots *
The strip for the bottom teeth is shorter than the top which is strange because I have the same amount of teeth on the top and the bottom…
Before use, thoroughly floss and brush teeth until they’re sparkling clean. Dry the teeth so the strips adhere. This is harder than it sounds, but the solution is to use narrow rolled-up strips of a good-quality kitchen towel and dab them until your mouth and gums stop watering.
You also need to pull your lips up so the strip doesn’t get stuck on any skin. Once on, these strips aren’t going anywhere and catching even a little bit on the inside of your mouth is uncomfortable.
What also happens is that your mouth will fill up with some of the gunky whitening gel that mixes with saliva – sounds worse than it is, just spit it out, no big deal.
My top tip though is to have water and a straw nearby for a drink. If you’re like me, you’ll develop a raging thirst every time you use the strips.
After the hour is up, gently peel them off, they stick on tight, but nothing as dramatic (and untrue) as one reviewer who said they lifted out her fillings.
Brush teeth again to remove any residue. The toothpaste (it’s packaged with the whitening strips) doesn’t foam up much but it’s pleasant to use as is the mouthwash.
Though I’m a coffee drinker, my teeth aren’t particularly stained, but I was surprised that by my third use I could see a definite lightening of my teeth. Fourteen days later and I’m impressed enough to buy another couple of boxes and work them into my daily routine.
You’re not going to get a snow-white smile (at least not if you’re over 50), but there will be a noticeable – if only to you, difference, sometimes that’s all you need.
A note about the branding and the eco-friendly packaging – these two sisters run a slick operation and good luck to them! Everything is beautifully thought out, with a nice-sized grey drawstring bag for the whitening strips that makes for a very cute bag for hand sanitiser afterwards.
WHERE TO BUY
When I went to restock my strips for the third time I came across this on their website.
SMILE REJUVENATION SYSTEM
Our 3-step at-home micro-needling system for smile enhancement & fine line minimisation.
- Plumps perioral lines
- Hydrates & minimises sad clown lines < — HORRIBLE WORDING!
- Works with collagen and elastin to tighten and firm the jawline
- Nourishes lateral cheek lines with active ingredients
- Works to reduce the appearance of the chin’s fine lines
- Replenishes hydration to fill hypermobile chin lines
Disposable micro-needling! I recently read up about this in an article published in 2015. I’m not sure if skincare brands are already onto this, but if not, they soon will be.
My skin is super sensitive but I’ve used a (small pronged) micro-needle roller before and it doesn’t hurt at all. The reason I didn’t continue with it was all the faffing around afterwards with disinfecting and air drying etc and then worrying if it was cleaned properly. A ‘one use only’ roller with dissolvable prongs, sounds ideal. I wonder if you can buy disposable ones off the shelf? Something to definitely look into.
The price is supposed to be £190.00 for the system, but I wonder if it’s one of those marketing ploys where it never sell at that price? It’s bundled with a set of 14 whitening strips and priced at £99.00, though I paid £90.00 for my kit.
The box is sitting on my desk right now and I’m excited to see if it will turn my sad clown frown upside down.
Sad clown indeed – Grrrr!
Spotlight Oral Care Teeth Whitening Strips£23.95 (£30.00 everywhere else) Spotlight *
UPDATE Code STRIPOFF reduces the cost to £10.00 including postage which is usually a hefty £3.95.
Offer valid 24/10/22
*Affiliate links
