Had My Teeth Whitened With Zoom (Giveaway/Deal On Now – $175)

It’s been a while since I’ve had my teeth whitened.  I drink coffee and red wine, but I don’t think the average person would have looked at my teeth and thought “OMG, she needs teeth whitening” or anything. The last person in our family to have their teeth whitened was La Jolla Dad, maybe 4 years ago.  He was in a lot of pain for a few days afterward, which turned me off to having it done again professionally.  However, I’m glad I tried Zoom compliments of Dr. David McReynolds of Del Mar Smiles and BuyWithMe San Diego.

The process:  We went over my dental history, took a photo of my teeth, and I was led to the exam room.  The hygienist inserted braces (drawing a blank as to what they are called) to spread my lips apart and give my teeth maximum exposure, while protecting my gums.  A gel was applied to my teeth and then the Zoom machine put a few inches away from my face for 15 minutes.  Then the gel was reapplied and another 15 minutes cycle started. Repeat. Zoom is 3 cycles of 15 minutes. You may learn more about Zoom on their website here, but yes, it’s completely safe.  The website claims that your teeth will be on average eight shades whiter. Pretty sure mine were a little bit less than that, which is ok by me. I also did not experience ANY pain. A few tingles here and there over the next day or so, but nothing major.

Why Dr. McReynolds:  He’s a great dentist for fearful people to see, because of his fantastic bedside manner.  I also found his staff to be very helpful and in tune with what was going on with me.  There’s quite a bit of down time during Zoom, while the system is in process.  I was given a big book of movies to choose from and watched Bridget Jones the entire time I was in the chair.  I will admit, Zoom would be MUCH harder to tolerate without entertainment.  I was there for about an hour with my lips uncomfortably exposing my teeth.  Not to worry, at Dr. McReynold’s office, you’ll be fine.  He is also extremely familiar with the Zoom process and seemed to understand exactly how my teeth would behave.  I had small splotches for about a week that concerned me, but he assured me they’d go away.  And they did.  It’s been about a month since my Zoom treatment and I’m still happy.  Also, getting to his office is easy and plenty of parking is available.

Expectations and after care:  If you read online reviews about Zoom, you’ll sometimes find that they are mixed.  I believe this is because when people hear that their teeth are likely to be about eight shades lighter, they expect that to be a very drastic difference.  Eight shades, in the tooth world, is not as much as I thought it would be.  Before I had Zoom, the hygienist showed me a tooth that was exactly my color.  She had an entire box of teeth, each color just ever so slightly different than the next.  If you held up my tooth and the tooth that’s eight shades lighter, you can definitely notice a difference, but it’s not going from yellow to bright white, for example.   You need to have realistic expectations, but know that your teeth are effortlessly and instantly going to be much whiter than when you walked in the door. The other thing that people might not know prior to scheduling Zoom, is that you must take VERY good care of your teeth for several days afterward.  This means:

1.  No red wine
2.  No coffee or tea
3.  No tomato or other red sauces
4.  No mustard or ketchup
5.  No Cola
6.  No Soy Sauce
7.  No berry pies or similar
8.  Drink lots of water.  Zoom slightly dehydrates your teeth.

This diet was a little bit hard for me, so schedule your Zoom when you have a few days of down time.  If you do not abide by these rules during your first 48 hours, your teeth can revert to possibly an even worse state than they were originally.  That would be a huge bummer, so don’t cave.  It’s worth the lack of caffeine.

Giveaway:  Through BuyWithMe San Diego starting today, you can buy a Zoom whitening treatment from Dr. McReynolds for $175 which is a little over half off. This is a deal. Why pay full price for this when you don’t have to?  I also have one free Zoom session with Dr. McReynolds to give away! Here is what you need to do to enter:

***Leave a comment telling me how you normally keep your teeth white.  Do you use whitening strips, professional treatments at the dentist, toothpaste, etc?***

Bonus entries are below.  Leave a separate comment for each bonus entry:
1.  Follow @BuyWithMeSD on Twitter
2.  Tweet about this deal as much as you like (leave a comment for each tweet) by using the TweetMeme button or cut and paste this:   Zoom Teeth Whitening is now $175 (reg $379) through @BuyWithMeSD. @lajollamom is giving away a session here http://bit.ly/cLWftP
3. Subscribe to LJM through Google Friend Connect, RSS or Email Newsletter (if you are already, that counts)

Deadline to enter is 8pm PST on July 21. If you’d like more information about Del Mar Smiles, check MojoPages, of course.  Have you had Zoom?  Please leave a comment and share your experience.

This is the week of local San Diego giveaways. Check out my Gaglione Bros post if you missed it.

Tagged as: Buywithme, Dr. David McReynolds, Health, San Diego, San Diego Dentists, Teeth Whitening, Zoom