What Is smilactives?
After working with consumers, dentists, and hygienists, Robert Eric Montgomery founded smileactives to help customers take care of their teeth and improve the look of their smile, using products with only the features that matter most.
Compared to strips, trays, and visits to the dentist, their most popular option, the Power Whitening Gel, promises to brighten your smile in one step: simply add it to your toothpaste and brush like normal.
Despite this ease of use, the company advertises that in a 30-day clinical study of the Gel, users noticed a six VITA shade improvement, just by brushing their teeth.
Another one of their popular products, the Advanced Teeth Whitening Pen, also claims to help you whiten on the go.
Regardless of the formulation, though, smileactives reports their professional-strength teeth whitening options work on all types of teeth, including natural, veneers, crowns, and dentures, and even on bonding.
And the company claims their products work fast, with some customers seeing results within three to seven days, while it might take a little longer for others.
What kinds of whitening results might you realistically expect to achieve by using smileactives' products? How does this compare to traditional competitors? Has the company revolutionized at-home teeth whitening, as claimed on their website?
As you might expect, the results achieved from any at-home whitening system will largely depend on your starting point, which we’ll discuss next.
How Does At-Home Teeth Whitening Work?
Teeth consist of three main layers: The hard, white outer layer (enamel), the softer, yellowish middle layer (dentin), and the inner layer (pulp), which is packed with nerves and blood vessels.
While enamel looks solid from far away, at the microscopic level, it’s filled with structures called rods and crystals that can form holes known as pores. While these pores play an important role in the health of your teeth, they can also trap particulate matter that eventually leads to staining.
As we explain in How to Choose an At-Home Teeth Whitening System That Works, trays and strips that can be used in the comfort of your own home (like smileactives) typically use solutions containing between 10 and 44 percent carbamide peroxide, or up to 16 percent hydrogen peroxide (carbamide peroxide breaks down into urea and hydrogen peroxide once oxidized), both of which bleach teeth.
Pro tip: Comparatively, the whitening solution used by dentists for in-office sessions typically contains between 25 and 38 percent hydrogen peroxide. At these levels, painful teeth and gum sensitivity can occur, which is why your dentist will likely use a gingival barrier and cheek retractor for added protection.
Regardless of the strength, once exposed to air, these substances trigger an oxidation reaction that breaks apart stains at the molecular level and then lifts them away.
As mentioned on the smileactives website, though, this process is gradual, and there are numerous factors that can impact effectiveness and the overall timeline, including your “age, medication, eating habits, and dental work,” as well as how long you’ve had the stains and how deeply they’re rooted in the enamel.
Taking a Closer Look at smileactives Products
Overall, there are four main products and one kit in the smileactives lineup:
Power Whitening Gel
Power Whitening Gel contains a nine percent hydrogen peroxide concentration, as well as the company’s PolyClean 360° technology that’s said to create “a powerful foaming action that works in hard-to-reach grooves and crannies for better stain removal than toothpaste alone.”
Specifically, they report it “generates an ultra-fine texture foam that is designed to whiten the whole tooth, not just the front.” It also works with your favorite toothpaste, helping you whiten and brush at the same time in one easy step.
Note: The company emphasizes that the Gel should only be used with toothpaste; not by itself.
This foam is said to work best for stains caused by coffee, tea, red wine, smoking, and dark-colored fruits and vegetables. Ingredients include:
Water, Hydrogen Peroxide, Glycerin, Hydroxyethyl Acrylate/Sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer, Flavor, Sodium Saccharin, Etidronic Acid, Potassium Stannate, Ammonium Hydroxide
In order to use smileactives’ Power Gel, you’ll start by removing the cap, applying an equal amount on your toothbrush (alongside your regular toothpaste), and then brushing for two minutes. When used as directed for 30 days, the company reports the Gel is clinically shown to whiten an average of six VITA shades in 30 days.
Vibrite Sonic Toothbrush
At just over seven inches in length and weighing in at 3.5 oz, smileactives reports their Vibrite Sonic Toothbrush delivers 40,000 brush strokes per minute for ultra-clean teeth, along with three modes: cleaning, whitening, and massaging.
It also comes with a USB charging travel storage case, a built-in UV disinfecting brush head station, along with two “brush heads with color-coded bristles that indicate where you place your toothpaste.”
Vibrite Sonic Toothbrush Replacement Heads
These replacement heads feature blue and white spiral bristles the company claims are “designed to enhance surface stain removal with every brushing.”
Specifically, the website indicates these color-coded bristle patterns “help indicate the placement of your favorite toothpaste and the smileactives Power Whitening Gel,” and that they should be replaced every three months.
What Can We Learn From smileactives Customer Reviews?
Between their Power Whitening Gel and Advanced and Original Whitening Pens, smileactives’ products held a combined rating of about 3.5 stars at the time of our research, among more than 70 Amazon reviewers.
There, common compliments frequently referenced effective results, ease of use, and no mess. On the other hand, complaints (what relatively few there were) often cited results that didn’t live up to expectations, as well as little product for the money.