Well, after having tried the whitening trays that the dentist gave me and not having the desired results, I went in and had the Zoom "Instant Whitening" done yesterday. Let me just say that it wasn't very easy to sit through that for an hour. The prop open your mouth with these plastic braces, pack your mouth full of gauze, apply all the stuff, put yellow glasses on your eyes, and then attach this lamp to your mouth. Well, it's not really attached. I mean, you can pull away from the lamp if you want to, but they fit together like a puzzle piece. Then you have to do at least 3 cycles of 15 minutes and each time they apply new gel. Anyway, if the gel sits on your gums it starts to burn. It's up to you how long you can tolerate it. I went through 4 cycles and was not able to tolerate anymore. Afterwards, depending on the person and how many cycles you did, you get these shooting pains in your teeth that last for about 1 to 3 seconds and then go away. I just get them randomly, but they are starting to go away now. I noticed today that the areas of gum that got the gel on them are dead and sloughing off. So I have some sore areas on my gums. Kind of freaked me out a little, but apparantly it's normal and it will heal. They tried to prevent that from happening by putting something on my gums, but obviously they didn't get it all covered.

On the upside, my teeth are definately whiter, but I still have some areas that did not take the gel very well or something and are still the old color. Luckily the Zoom 2 comes with touch up gel that I can apply. Just have to wait for the gums to heal.

So, just thought you might like to know how that worked for me. Oh... and this procedure is normally between $700 and $800 in Ohio.

I have heard about his procedure on the radio, and I thought it might be nice to try one day. However, it sounds kinda painful. I have really sensitive teeth, so I don't know if I could handle the pain The price that they were advertising on the radio was $400-500 in the Chicagoland area. Thanks for the info AFemaleProdigy!!!

I have been talking to a lot of people about my experience with this and the fact that my teeth are not as white as I would have expected. I am hearing that other people in the area have gone to other dentists and had much better results. So at this point, I am wondering if it was the dentist's fault that my results were not so good? Hmm.... well, I am going to have a consultation with a new dentist that other people have had good results from and see what they say. I will let you all know what happens!

I had the Zoom 2 whitening process done this past Wednesday. The only side effect that I was told about was possible tooth sensitivity.
OH MY GOSH...the pain was horrible. They gave me a 600 mg ibruprofen pill prior to the process and my teeth still hurt. That night the shooting pains that they referred to as zingers kept me up all night and I was in tears. That pain was gone by the next morning but was not the worst part. I have blisters on the inside of my bottom lip (which covers the entire inside of the lip) and on my bottom lip. My bottom lip is swollen also. I was burned, literally. I called the dentist office and the assistant who performed the process answered the phone. I told her about my pain and she said to use the vitamin e ointment that they sent me home with and rinse with salt water (directions given per dentist). What?! That's it?! So, I am miserable days later and can barely eat. Any helpful tips to heal burn blisters?

I too had "burn" areas on my gums that turned into open wounds. They told me it was normal for that to happen. But here's the thing... they are given this barrier stuff to put on your gums to protect your tissue from the peroxide which means that they know they aren't supposed to get it on your tissue. This leads me to believe that they are just kind of sloppy about the application of the peroxide.

Those "zingers" hurt really bad! I was lucky enough that they only lasted for a few hours for me. It's enough to make you wreck your car because it's instant aching in your teeth so bad you can't think straight. I couldn't imagine if mine had gone on for more then a few hours!

So were your teeth really white after?

No, actually. My teeth were at the top of the white chart to begin with so I didn't see a significant difference. I think that the darker the teeth, the better the results. It really wasn't worth it.
I am still suffering from the burn blister on the inside of my bottom lip. It hurts to eat and I can't smile because it stretches it. I am using salt water rinses. I tried orabase but that stings too bad. Did you use anything different? How long did yours last? I go on vacation this coming weekend....I am desperate to heal.

My sores were open for about 3 days and started to go away after that. They were gone after about a week I think. I imagine that your lip would be a bit more tender though. The only thing they gave me was a small container of vitamin E gel. I put it on all the time. I took Advil too. I couldn't hardly brush my teeth for that week though because of my gums. I had my tongue pierced a few years ago and they had me using the sea salt wash too so I guess that's a good route to take? Not sure. I suppose you just have to wait it out. That vitamin E should help with the stretching of your lip though.

All your results are "normal". I work in a dental office that does the zoom. Some people get fantastic results, some not so great. I really depends on your tooth structure. Some take up the peroxide better than others. Also the darker your complextion the brighter your teeth are. Vitaman e gel for gums works to help the burns. It does go away. According to our directions a patient can get up to five times whiter than normal. The zingers also will go away. It is from the tooth becoming dehydrated. It also seems like every few years they come out with a better and less irritating system. Most of our patients are very happy with the results. I believe we only had one request her money back, which we were happy to do. We want happy patients. A hygienist