I read the review of the Crest Whitening Strips and started to post this review under that thread, but decided that it wouldn't be fair to Plus White to do that. I've never tried the strips because I don't like the price. I use Plus White 5 Minute Speed Whitening Gel. It works great. When you first start using it you need to buy the kit which comes with the gel and a little tray--not exactly a tray, more like a very small mouth guard made out of a jelly like rubber. It's a little cheesy but it works. The kit usually comes with a pre-whitening rinse, too. The kit costs around ten to twelve dollars and lasts a long time. How long depends on how often you choose to use the gel. One tube of gel lasts me several months. The first two weeks you use it every day. I think the instructions are to use it twice daily for fifteen to twenty minutes in that time; but you really don't have to do it that way. I did my first two weeks only once a day for twenty minutes and it worked beautifully. I know one person who leaves it in for thirty minutes or more, but I don't know how she holds it in her mouth for that long. I wouldn't recommend it, but Whatever Works for you. Anyway, you just line both sides of the tray with a little of the gel and pop it in your mouth. Go read a book or something for fifteen minutes or so, pop it out, rinse and you're done. A little bit of the gel goes a long way. The peroxide in it foams up a lot, so don't put nearly as much gel on the tray as the picture in the instructions shows. If you do, you will never be able to keep it in your mouth for very long. The tray lasts a long time. I haven't worn one out, yet; and I've been using it for at least two years. Which means that after you buy the kit the first time you need only buy the gel by itself after that. Don't worry about the pre-whitening rinse, I never saw that it did much anyway. Just get the gel. It only costs about six dollars at Walmart or Dollar General. I think Fred's carries it, too. After the initial two weeks, I've never had to use it more than once or twice a week to maintain the brightness. Sometimes I skip a week or two and only do it when I start to notice a little dinginess. This works very well for me. Each person, however, probably needs to work out their own routine. I drink a little herbal tea, which can stain some; but I never drink coffee, real tea or wines which can stain a lot. Neither do I smoke or use any other tobacco products. So I guess if you do any of these things you would have to make some adjustments to that schedule; but I have absolutely no doubt that in a week's time anyone will see a huge difference using this product. And inside of a month you will have found your routine for keeping your smile white. If you check the Amazon reviews I think you'll find that this product has only a three and a half to four star rating. I'm not certain why, other than the fact that some people did not like the taste. Well, it's not minty fresh, but it's not bad either. I can easily handle it for the small amount of time necessary for it to work. And you will not find another product as inexpensive as this one that really does the job. As far as I'm concerned it easily rates a good five stars.
