Taking care of your teeth is the cornerstone of personal hygiene. You can pretty much tell who cares and doesn’t care by what someone’s teeth look like, at least in America. Not caring is easy, do nothing. However, to keep your teeth nice and white, some level of upkeep and maintenance is required. I’ve used WhiteStrips before and to good effect, but they tend to aggravate my porcelain crown with a pins and needles type of pain. So I was looking for something new to try that would whiten my teeth and not make me wince.

The Luster 1 Hour Tooth Whitening System looked like it might do the job. Similar to the technology found in dentist’s offices, Luster uses an eerie blue light to whiten your teeth in two minute increments, which when completed adds up to an hour. In total, there are three steps involved in the whitening process:

1. The first is an “accelerator” mouth rinse you swish around to prepare your teeth for the gel
2. Step two involves a small nail polish like brush that you use to apply the whitening gel to your teeth
3. Step three requires you to hold the blue light up to you teeth for two minutes and smile your hardest. No need to watch a clock as the light stick automatically shuts off after two minutes.

And that’s it. Easy enough sounding, right? Luster recommends performing the whole hour in one day for maximum potency, but if your schedule doesn’t allow for that, you’re welcome to break it up however you like.  As long as you don’t wait too long between applications!  I applied Luster over the course of two weeks at twice a day with positive results.

After the two weeks, my teeth looked great and I was happy with the results. With not more than a glance I noticed that they had gotten whiter by several shades. I only had a few minor problems with the Luster system:

• Two minutes seemed much longer than needed
• I don’t care how good looking you think you are, two minutes of staring at yourself in the mirror with a full mouth gaping smile gets old and tedious after 30 seconds.

I felt like Ray Liotta in GoodFellas when he’s laughing his hardest and his face looks like it hurts! That’s the thing; my face got really tired from smiling to expose all my teeth that I felt like I gave myself premature crow’s feet! It would have been nice if the system came with an optional attachment that helped keep your mouth open. Insert crass joke here. Something to the effect of “Clockwork Orange” that helps keep eyes from closing. Besides that, I thought it was a worthwhile experience and a nice alternative to WhiteStrips for those with sensitive teeth. Also, the light stick makes a great illuminator for all your big teeth Jim Carrey impersonations by the campfire!

Learn more about Luster Whitening Systems here

Competitively priced with WhiteStrips, buy it here for $39.99