Mellow Your Yellow
By Jane Larkworthy
Tooth whitening is usually a $2000, two-laser, three-hour procedure. Plus, you have to swear off red wine and coffee for, like, ever. Now New York cosmetic dentist Irwin Smigel introduces BrightSmile, which sounds like Son of Laser with a healthy dose of Prozac. It costs around $500, uses just one concentrated light spectrum, takes about an hour, and you have to hold off on the wine and Java for only three days. Other options: a bite-plate mold with some Day White, or Rembrandt at-home whitening kits, or Arm and Hammer's new Advance White Fluoride Toothpaste. The pursuit of whiter teeth is a pretty harmless obsession, after all. Unless you're chugging hydrogen peroxide straight-up. Then you've gone too far.