Is Teeth Whitening Safe?
My grandma always taught me that if I wanted white teeth, I can do one of two things. Use charcoal – yes—charcoal, or use indigo. My grandma grew up in the West Indies, so maybe indigo was easy to get in her days. Even though I can get charcoal, I would feel weird rubbing something that will turn my teeth temporarily black in hopes that my teeth will whiten.
We, in the sophisticated US have other options right? We have those easy and sterile home based whitening systems that we can use at night to naturally whiten teeth. Hold on. Before running to the nearest drug store to buy these whitening trays, have we given any thought to teeth-whitening safety?
Tray Based Teeth Whitening Systems
Tray-based whitening systems usually use a 10% carbamide peroxide solution. Carbamide peroxide solution is similar to the hydrogen peroxide solutions we have sitting in the bathroom. (In fact, hydrogen peroxide is rumored to whiten teeth too.). So then why don’t we just use hydrogen peroxide in those whitening trays? Well, we can. However, hydrogen peroxide is less stable than Carbamide peroxide, Carbamide peroxide is made of hydrogen peroxide and urea. In the presence of water, it becomes hydrogen peroxide.
What are some of the side effects of teeth whitening?
Gum irritation- level of peroxide use, bleaching tray
Tooth sensitivity- may be due to the tooth nerve tissue becoming inflamed. It is usually transitory and occurs during the teeth whitening process. Bleaching trays can put pressure on teeth and gums.
Is teeth whitening worth the side effects? What say you?
Tags: teeth whitening, tooth whitening, whitening
July 24th, 2009 at 4:42 am
Thanks for posting about this, I would love to read more about this topic.
September 23rd, 2009 at 12:48 pm
I’ve been searching for info on safe tooth whitening and your post regarding Beauty is Now » Blog Archive » Is Teeth Whitening Safe? is spot on!
October 2nd, 2009 at 1:37 pm
I was searching online and I found your site on google. Just finished reading a few of some of your other posts here. I’ve already added your site to my Google News Reader. Thanks for your good and educative posts and please keep up the good work as I look forward to reading more of your posts in the future.
November 1st, 2009 at 5:31 am
Hey, I live in Indonesia. Don’t you know, before the independence of Indonesia, it is said that people use red bricks to clean their teeth -yes, the same bricks to build a house. I don’t know if it’s an effective method of teeth whitening, though.
November 1st, 2009 at 10:13 am
I don’t really know about whitening tray and I never use it. It’s not something we easily find in my country as most of us still are still using regular tooth brush + toothpaste. And it’s not really effective to me.
November 3rd, 2009 at 9:46 pm
Just another suggestion, reducing consumption of staining substances such as tea, coffee, and cola may keep our teeth clean. Don’t forget that prevention is better than curative action.
November 3rd, 2009 at 9:56 pm
By the way, if you need to get your teeth white in a short time, laser or bleaching method offered by dentists should do the job. It’s true that we need to pay more for the service, but it worth the result.