This device is easily the most effective at-home teeth whitener I've ever used
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- I was recently sent the GLO Brilliant Teeth Whitening Device to try, which claims to give you professional-level teeth whitening results at home.
- The patented device uses LED lights and GLO heat to accelerate whitening within the closed system of a mouthpiece, so gums and other soft tissue are safe from the process.
- The high upfront cost ($220) is a downside, but it's easily the most effective at-home teeth whitener I've ever used.
We cover a lot of teeth whitening products here at Insider Picks, like the charcoal teeth whitening powder that has seemingly taken over Amazon and recommendations given by a cosmetic dentist on the best at-home treatments. It's kind of a no-brainer — pretty much everybody wants white teeth. And since so many of us take steps to whiten our teeth, it's become the new norm.
Recently, GLO Science sent me their GLO Brilliant Teeth Whitening Device to test. The patented device is available at retailers like Sephora, and the idea is that it combines LED light and warming GLO heat to accelerate whitening for faster, easier, and more effective whitening for professional-level whitening at home. GLO Science claims it's clinically proven to whiten teeth "five times whiter without sensitivity."
The upside is that it’s the most effective at-home teeth whitening system that I’ve used, and it can be seen as an investment since you have the device for future applications after your initial purchase. The downside is that it’s paired with a steep upfront cost and you’ll have to commit to five days of continuous applications.
The short of it is that the device noticeably whitened my teeth, and whitened them more uniformly and drastically than I’ve seen with other teeth whiteners like popular at-home strips. It only takes 32 minutes a day, but you will have to commit to doing it five days in a row. For me, though, that wasn’t a horrible compromise since it's not usually hard to find 32 minutes to spare before bedtime. I would charge the device during the day while I was at work and then watch a TV show or read at night while doing the applications.
The process was simple, but you’ll want to make sure that you charge your device before you go ahead and uncap any of the gel tubes and apply them to your teeth. It takes awhile for the device to fully charge, so if you don’t budget for that, you’ll have primed your teeth for nothing and wasted a tube. You’ll also want to remember that the 32 minutes of daily application is divided into four sessions of 8 minutes, so you should apply the G-Vial to last all four sessions once the time for that comes.
Once the GLO Control is fully charged, you’ll place the lanyard and Control over your neck, attach the mouthpiece, and then apply a thin layer of GLO Lip Care to your top and bottom lips both inside and out. If you’ve got extra sensitive gums, you can apply Lip Care to your gums as well. This part of the process could have been really messy since the Lip Care feels similar to Vaseline, but it was always pretty clean and easy.
From there you’ll open a G-Vial (which comes in your set) and squeeze the gel onto the attached brush tip to apply a thin layer on your top and bottom teeth (front only). Here is where you’ll want to budget the gel to last you four sessions — for me, this wasn’t a problem and I often had leftovers which I used in the following day’s session.
Once your lips (and possibly gums) have Lip Care on and you’ve applied the gel to your teeth, you turn on the GLO control and pop the mouthpiece in your mouth. It feels like a mouthguard, and it lights up a bright blue. While GLO Science says you don’t need to, I usually avoided swallowing during the 8-minute sessions to avoid tasting the gel — this isn’t any different than Crest Whitestrips, though.
After 8 minutes the Control will automatically turn off, and you can rinse the mouthpiece in warm water and apply the second layer of gel from the G-vial for the next session. There’s no need to rinse your mouth out in between sessions. You’ll repeat the process of putting on gel, turning it on, and popping in the mouthpiece four times total. You’ll do this for five consecutive days for the best results, and up to 10 days if you really want.
The process was really simple, less of a hassle than it sounds, and I saw noticeable results after the first day of applications. After five, I think it was the whitest my teeth had ever been. It’s worth noting that I’ve never had professional whitening done in a dentist’s office, but I’ve used whitening toothpastes, strips, and powders as part of my job and as your average person. I noticed some gum sensitivity toward the end of day four, but it went away quickly after sessions and was comparable to what I’ve experienced using white strips before.
Its high upfront cost of $220 means it might not be the right fit for every budget, but it is a particularly good gift.
I found it to be more effective than any other at-home whitening product I’ve yet tried, and it averages out to be the cost of about seven Crest Whitestrip boxes — which, unlike this system, you do have to continue buying. It’s worth noting, though, that while the GLO science device itself is an investment, you’ll have to re-up the G-Vials once you run out. Your set comes with 10 (good for 10 days of applications), and refills currently run at $51-$54 for seven on Amazon.
While powders and strips are perfectly viable and effective options — and a fraction of the price — they won't give you the same drastic whitening, and I noticed that GLO Science was also able to deliver a more uniform white than I'd ever been able to achieve before. Thanks to the sessions being optimized by LED lights, even tough stains I'd learned to live with were lightened. It was easily the most effective system I've used.
So if you want the best at-home teeth whitening system out there, and you're willing to spend a good amount to get it, GLO Science's Brilliant Teeth Whitening Device is the best option I've found so far.