The Rio Professional Teeth Whitening System is peroxide free – meaning it complies with new EU regulations – and uses a blue light technology to ‘boost’ the effectiveness of the whitening gel.
One of the biggest benefits to this product is the fact that the blue light provided runs on mains power and not batteries. Batteries failing, leaking or running out is a common complaint among users of similar blue light-assisted whitening technology.
The other benefit of this product to those who want safety is that it is peroxide-free, meaning it should have no potential side effects or cause sensitivity to teeth and gums, as a normal peroxide teeth whitening kit can.
Of course, with every benefit comes a downside and the fact is that non-peroxide kits just don’t seem to be as effective as their traditional peroxide counterparts; with the new EU ruling that over-the-counter teeth whitening kits can contain no more than 0.1% peroxide, however, it’s probably not altogether fair to focus on that.
The Rio Professional Teeth Whitening System includes the whitening unit with blue light transmitter, five whitening gels (should be enough for 30 treatments), four mouth pieces, full instructions and a mains adapter.
You are able to customise the mouth trays by dropping them in hot water, placing them in the mouth and biting down. Once you have done this satisfactorily, you then need to add the mouthpiece to the front of the blue light transmitter and add gel to the mouth tray by using the syringe that it comes in.
Place the mouth tray in your mouth once again, relax your lips over it and switch on the unit. A timer lets you know when it is time to remove it again. The system comes with two treatment modes and a 12-minute top up. You are advised to begin the teeth whitening treatment at level one and slowly increase the power with each subsequent treatment until you are either at maximum power or gain the whitening that you want.
It is safe to use the system weekly or daily to begin with for the first month and once you reach the whitening level you desire, use the 12-minute top up treatment once a month.
The gel’s main active ingredient is sodium perborate. Other ingredients include glycerine, aqua, silica, xanthan gum, droxythtlcellulose, sodium gluconate, citric acid and sodium citrate.
Advantages:
- Unlike Rio’s Blue Light Teeth Whitening Kit, the mouth trays provided can be customisable to your own teeth by putting them in hot water for 60 seconds before placing in the mouth and biting down. This should ensure a better fit and less chance of gel leakage.
- This kit uses mains power, as opposed to battery power, so you never need worry that your battery will run out.
- The non-peroxide (sodium perborate) in this kit is safer to use than traditional peroxide teeth whitening kits and no teeth sensitivity seems to have been reported. The gel uses gentle stain removers which are of a food grade.
- The mouth pieces slot onto the front of the blue light transmitter which is supported in place by the cord, making it much easier to use than other handheld blue lights.
- Users point out that the mains-powered unit is much more powerful than the other blue light kit provided by the company (in the Rio Blue Light Teeth Whitening Kit).
- Users also praise the system for being easy to use.
Disadvantages:
- If you have teeth with blue or grey staining, you may not see any results for a long time as they are much slower to respond to this treatment than yellow teeth.
- The system is quite pricy, costing £59.99 on Amazon.
- Those who liked the system did point out that the change is very gradual; it looks like you may need to use it for several weeks to a month to notice significant change.
- Some users did suggest this may be a better system for teeth whitening maintenance as opposed to using it ahead of a specific occasion.
- Users also complained of lots of dribbling when using this product!
- This product has some of the same criticisms as Rio’s cheaper Blue Light Teeth Whitening Kit, namely that the mouth trays and therefore the gel do not reach the entire tooth, whitening only the bottom half.
- Users also complain that the whitening effects seem to fade very quickly, with some saying they only last a few hours to a day.
- Not enough research has been done on just how effective blue lights are when used with non-peroxide based gels, especially if used through a mouth tray.
Verdict:
The Rio Professional Teeth Whitening System is relatively pricy, considering its reviews aren’t great. While the company seems to have improved on its mouth trays and the use of the blue light – when compared to its Blue Light Teeth Whitening Kit, for instance – it still seems to share some of the drawbacks of its cheaper product.
A common theme seems to be that the mouth trays and gel only whiten the bottom part of the tooth and that the colour doesn’t really last; likewise, the manufacturers themselves all but admit that the product is really best used by those with yellow teeth, as opposed to anyone with grey or blue teeth staining.
Perseverance also seems to be the name of the game here, with those users who were happy with the product admitting that it took a long time (up to a month) to show truly noticeable results.
For the money, however, you would hope that it would at least whiten the whole of the tooth.
This may well be one to avoid unless you’re seeking a non-peroxide whitener that is gentle on sensitive teeth. Even then, the jury is out on whether products using blue light technology really have any better results than those which don’t.
Where to Buy:
Buy online at Amazon.co.uk http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rio-Professional-Teeth-Whitening-System/dp/B002VXT5WI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1332411663&sr=8-2
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