Are Teeth whitening products safe?

A huge choice of products for teeth whitening are available in the market, many of them sold over the counter by mail order and online. But plenty of customers are concerned about the safety and effectiveness of these products for whitening teeth.
 
However, the manufacturers insist that their offerings are safe and effective. In fact, whitening solutions containing hydrogen peroxide, for instance, have been used by dentists for ages for treating discoloured teeth stained by food, tea, coffee, tobacco chewing, etc.
 
These products were not popular in the beginning because the results were quite unpredictable and it also demands meticulous preparations. But demand started to increase in the early 1990s when easier to use products for teeth whitening were rolled out.

As far as the Food and Drug Administration were concerned, back in 1991, teeth whiteners are drugs which can affect bodily structures and tissues. The manufacturers argued that they were not drugs but cosmetics.

The normal method of teeth whitening is still done in a dentist's office. In many countries, it still involves the tested bleach-and-gel solutions which are basically done two to three times annually. Under this procedure, the dentist swabs the teeth with the bleaching agent and leave it alone for between 10 to 20 minutes. How many treatments? It depends on the severity of the staining.

There are dentists who beams laser light to the bleaching procedure to speed up the whole process of teeth whitening.

For those who are keen to try out teeth whitening at home, a word of caution from professionals is that you must read the product labels very carefully before use. This is because, like other medical procedures, improper application of teeth whitening may harm gum tissue or damage the teeth. Studies have shown that high concentrations of hydrogen peroxide may inflict irreversible cell damage.

Home bleaching devices generally use lower levels of peroxide. Hence, they need to be applied more frequently and for longer periods. Popular bleaching products involve pouring the bleaching agents into small, thin trays which are moulded tightly around the teeth. Do not overuse such products though because it may damage the exterior enamel and the inner nerve or even your mouth.

How about the widely advertised products which contain teeth whiteners and ordinary toothpate? Well, they are very low in peroxide. In addition to that, the long-term effect of exposure to low-level of hydrogen peroxide for teeth whitening is still very much unknown.

More info on this site - whitening tooth by bleaching