One of the first things people notice about you is your smile. Is yours as white as it could be? If it's not, you might be interested in one of the many home teeth whitening products on the store shelves.

One of the first home whitening products was the Crest Whitestrips kit. Crest Whitestrips have a tooth whitening gel on thin plastic strips that your wear on your teeth. The advantages of the Crest Whitestrips product is that the gel stays in place for as long as you leave the strip on your teeth. They do a great job whitening your teeth. The disadvantages are the possibility of increased tooth sensitivity, a messy application process and a foul taste. The classic Crest Whitestrips whiten teeth in 14 days and retail for $24.99

Since their introduction, Crest has reformulated the Whitestrips products a number of times. There have been night time whitening products that have been discontinued. Currently, the additional Crest Whitestrips products include the 10 Day and 7 Day Premium Dental Whitening Formula Whitestrips. The retail prices for these products range from $35 to $40.

Aquafresh Once a Day White Trays are similar to the whitening trays you may see in your dentist's office. The thin, flexible trays are filled with an enamel safe, mint flavored whitening gel. The trays allow the teeth to sit in the gel so that even the spaces between teeth are whitened. Results are promised in as little as three days. The advantage to using the Once a Day White Trays is fast whitening action. They can be messy and are inconvenient if you are pressed for time.

GoSMILE takes a different approach to tooth whitening. There are no trays or strips to apply to the teeth. Instead, GoSMILE's whitening gel is in individual ampules that are snapped. This allows the gel to soak into a brush at the end of the ampule. The brush is used to apply the gel to the surface of the teeth. The ampules are portable and are sanitary since each ampule is used only once. GoSMILE's gel has the highest concentration of hydrogen peroxide available outside of a dentist's office. GoSMILE won the “Best of Sephora” award for 2006 and 2007, but at $89 for 20 ampules, it is a little pricey.