Thursday, November 20, 2008

Is Teeth Whitening Dangerous?

Teeth whitening procedures could be dangerous to your health?

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.

Special precaution should be taken if you try to apply these chemicals by yourself at home. Be sure that the chemicals are only in contact with your teeth but not other mouth tissue.

The risk is minimized if you get the dental professional to do the work. 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) After the whitening treatment, people with sensitive teeth could have the negative effect. This reaction is normally very noticeable when eating food while they too are hot or too cold such as ice cream.

3) If the chemicals (carbamide peroxide and hydrogen peroxide) used in the procedure is swallowed, it could be dangerous to your health. 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. While there is no conclusive or large enough sampling to quantify the claims but there is something to be aware off.


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