My Teeth Whitening Experience From Hell

Do you get the feeling that our society is a little teeth-whitening-obsessed? I mean, you can hardly buy a tube of toothpaste these days with out "whitening" featured on the label, and doesn't it seem that neon white teeth is a prerequisite for anyone in the public eye (celebs, news anchors, etc.)? I'm all for pearly whites, but after my teeth whitening experience from hell, I've decided that the color of my smile is just fine--the way it is...

I have an infant in the house, so I'm frequently feeding him and reaching for the remote control when I do. My channels of choice: TLC and The Food Network! So, while catching an episode of John and Kate Plus 8 (raise your hand if you love this show!), I watched as John and Kate went to get their teeth whitened at their dentist's office. I cringed when Kate's gum's started to burn from the treatment, because that's exactly what happened to me.

Many months ago, before I got pregnant with #2, I decided to splurge on the Zoom Whitening procedure offered at my dentist office. My teeth weren't stained or yellow or anything, I just--like most of us these days--wanted to bring them up a few shades lighter. So I plunked down $600 and made the appointment. (I'm not alone: Teeth whitening procedures have jumped in popularity by more than 300% since 1996, according to experts. Proof: You can even get your teeth whitened at the mall these days!)

Let me just say, my dentist is fabulous and the Zoom procedure works well for so many people, but when they tried it on me--I winced in pain. For some reason it made my gums feel like they were on fire. I tried to deal with it--I mean, heck, I'd gone through 20+ hours of back-breaking childbirth without an epidural. I could deal with pain--but when I started to cry, they decided to call it quits. As it turns out, some people have really sensitive gum tissues, like me, and the procedure just doesn't work for them. Of course, my dentist apologized (not her fault), and I got a full refund. In short, the whole thing was a big bummer.

It was interesting seeing that Kate, from John and Kate Plus 8, also had a similar experience (proof that I'm not the only one in the world with "sensitive gums"). And I was curious, have any of you had an teeth whitening experiences from hell? And what do you think--is teeth whitening addicting? I knew a girl once who bleached her teeth so often they started to look kind of blue. Yikes, I know.