How Safe Is Teeth Whitening Procedures?
| January 15, 2009The danger in teeth whitening procedures?
Most people are concerned about making their teeth white but how many of those are ever thought about the potential danger in teeth whitening procedures. To be fair, yes there is a potential risk of chemical reaction to your mouth tissue and teeth.
By and large the potential risk can be minimized and nothing to be worried about but worth looking into.
3 Potential Dangers in Whitening Your Teeth
1) For those people who have sensitive gums and soft mouth tissue, they could respond negatively to the chemicals solutions such as carbamide peroxide or hydrogen peroxide that are normally used in tooth whitening procedures.
Warning! Be very careful if you want to try using these chemicals at home. Be sure that the chemicals are only in contact with your teeth but not other mouth tissue.
Normally if the procedures is done at the dentist office the risk could be greatly minimized. Dental professionals have the necessary tools to prevent your teeth and other mouth tissues from the chemicals.
Some teeth whitening home kits do provide some protection tools such as mouth guard. Mouth guard does not work very well since it doesn’t fit everyone. It will not work with everyone, though some people may fit nicely.
2) People with sensitive teeth could be affected by the chemical used during the treatment. This reaction is normally very noticeable when eating food while they too are hot or too cold such as ice cream.
3) The chemicals used (carbamide peroxide and hydrogen peroxide) in the whitening procedures could also be potentially dangerous if swallowed. Some people will have a reaction of stomach upset, nausea and vomiting.
Some case studies have shown that the use of hydrogen peroxide for teeth whitening has been associated with the development of tongue cancer. There is no statistical data to quantify the claims but it is always wise to be on the safe side.
