Teeth whitening: choosing the right method to limit the risks

in collaboration with

Dr Gérald Kierzek (Medical Director of Doctissimo)

Teeth whitening, what is it?

We speak of dental whitening when we want to lighten the color of the enamel of our teeth, which is naturally not white but whose shade varies between shades of ivory and yellow. It is the dentin, which is the lower layer of enamel, which gives teeth their color through the translucent enamel. And this varies over time and over the course of life, depending on the tartar present on the teeth but also depending on the coloring foods to which the teeth may have been exposed, such as tea, coffee, wine…

Teeth whitening at the dentist

Teeth are living things in the mouth. They are innervated and porous, which explains their fragile structure. To lighten the enamel of your teeth, it is therefore better to turn to the health professional who will take care of it best, ie the dentist. First, he will first ensure that there are no contraindications to teeth whitening. For example, it is an act contraindicated in children under 18, in the event of chemotherapy, breastfeeding or in the event of erosion of the enamel of the teeth. The dentist also carries out a preliminary dental examination, to see the presence of cavities, cracks or other elements to be treated, then carries out a scaling, before starting whitening.

Gutters and a product to leave on

If the person is ready to receive a whitening treatment, the dentist can therefore make a tailor-made gutter for his patient and syringes pre-filled with a whitening product, containing carbamide peroxide, dosed at 10 or 16%. *

The treatment then takes place at home. The product must be deposited in the tray which must be worn all night, for several weeks, while limiting the exposure of the teeth to coloring foods and avoiding smoking. Generally, the results are quite visible even if it is a tooth whitening.

Thereafter, it will be necessary to continue to limit its consumption of coloring products to keep the benefit as long as possible, which could last a few years. Finally, you should know that this procedure has a cost: it takes between 300 and 1,000 euros for the treatment, according to the practitioners.

What are the other options?

Other structures such as beauty salons, institutes or even spas offer dental whitening services. In a single session, thanks to a gutter filled with an active ingredient (often hydrogen peroxide) and a special light, it would be possible to whiten your teeth in a few minutes.

But as these sessions are not supervised by a health professional, the regulations prohibit them from using highly concentrated products. And this can be felt in the result: there is very little difference before/after the treatment.

What about kits to do at home?

The strips to apply to the teeth are also often promoted on social networks. These kits, which sometimes come from the United States, where the regulations are different, may contain more hydrogen peroxide and therefore damage the teeth more quickly and more easily.

Remember that the only products authorized and therefore without risk for consumers are “toothpastes, mouthwashes and teeth whitening products containing up to 0.1% hydrogen peroxide” recalls the site of the General Directorate of competition, consumption and the repression of fraud (DGCCRF), which considers that they “do not present a risk to the health of the consumer under normal or reasonably foreseeable conditions of use”.

Finally, the DGCCRF recalls that in other cases, the “risks can be limited if the treatment is applied properly with the approval of a dentist and under his supervision” and that “the individual case of each patient must be taken into account before the treatment “. Therefore, choose the dentists for a safe dental clarification.