Whitening strips began in 1997, when a Procter & Gamble engineer named Paul Sagel stuck a peroxide-coated strip of plastic wrap to his teeth, and the first ones reached shoppers in 2001, moving at-home whitening out of the dentist's chair. Josh Snow came at it from the other side of the chair. Years of braces and jaw surgery left him friendly with his dentists, and he put his own savings into an at-home whitening system in Phoenix, then grew Snow without outside funding. The DiamondSeries teeth whitening strips dissolve on your teeth in about 15 minutes, using what Snow calls P3 technology with hydrogen peroxide and hydroxyapatite, so there is nothing to peel off. The purple strips were designed by a dentist, Dr. Brian Harris, to color-correct yellow tones. The whitening pen is for touch-ups, and the LED mouthpiece is the original Snow kit, light-activated with serum wands. If you have sensitive teeth, crowns or fillings, talk to your dentist before you start, because whitening will not change the color of dental work.

Strips do the heavy lifting, but daily care keeps the result. Marvis comes from Florence, where the brand says it was created in 1958, and since a 1997 relaunch it has treated toothpaste as a small daily pleasure, which is why the travel whitening mint is the one I pack. Olas was created by Dr. Christopher Perez, a New York dentist and surfer who wanted an alcohol-free rinse to recommend to patients. The name means waves in Spanish, and the rinse starts from a saltwater base with minerals. Cocolab's SmileCare kit is a full oral care set from the same sisters behind the floss in the next row. Brush gently, since scrubbing hard does not whiten faster.

Cocofloss was started in 2015 by two sisters, Chrystle Cu, a dentist in San Mateo, and Catherine Cu, and the floss is woven from more than 500 filaments and infused with coconut oil, made in a family-owned factory in northern Italy. The two flavors here are coconut and mint. Slate's electric flosser came from a dentist, Dr. Danny Snyder, who held a flosser against a vibrating toothbrush in 2019 and found it slid between teeth more easily. Snow's LED toothbrush rounds out the row. What I would skip is whitening more often than the instructions say. Overdoing it is the fastest route to sensitivity, and the color will not get whiter past a point.

Brush and floss first, then whiten on clean, dry teeth. Skip coffee, red wine and tea for an hour after each session. Finish a full course, then touch up once a month with the pen. Stop if your gums or teeth hurt, and ask your dentist before you carry on. Some fading over time is normal, especially if you drink coffee. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together Semi Cured Gel Nail Strips Come Out of the Box Only 60 Percent Done and Color Safe Shampoo Picks, Plus the Masks and Glosses That Keep Dye Bright.