Will Whitening Damage My Teeth?

Few people are born with extremely white teeth. Many years ago the only way to improve the color of teeth was to have them “capped,” Hollywood-style, but the bleaching treatments of the present 20 years have been very successful in giving people the bright smiles they want.

Last week our patient James asked if whitening his teeth would harm them. In all our years of dental practice, we’ve never seen a patient who ended up with any long-term problems as a result of tooth whitening or bleaching. Because the whitening systems are peroxide-based, we often see a decrease in the activity of germs in the mouth and actually an improvement in patients’ dental health. Peroxide can only dissolve the organic debris inside of a tooth and it doesn’t affect the crystalline matrix that makes our teeth so hard, which is why it doesn’t cause cavities or otherwise soften tooth structure.

Whitening can cause a short-term problem of sensitivity, however, so use caution when trying to whiten with over-the-counter gels and toothpaste with whitening ingredients. If you are committed to a bleaching/whitening regimen, though, the sensitivity is something to be expected, is not usually too intense, and it will go away just as soon as treatment is completed.

Dr. Rossen offers a few different types of whitening systems in our practice, so make an appointment today to find the best one that will work with your schedule and lifestyle.