Question:
Ok, here's a dumb question...
My friend told me that she read somewhere that you can use regular old
household bleach on your teeth to whiten them (just be careful no tto
swallow it). Well this sort of makes logical sense to me, but I'm afraid
to try it--will it scrape the enamel off my teeth or poison me or
something? I'm afraid to ask my dentist for fear that he'll think I'm an
absolute idiot, but my friend swears she heard this is true.
Answer:
If you are talking about chlorine bleach, DO NOT USE. If you mean
3% hydrogen peroxide solution, 3% is not enough to whiten teeth
and can damage the gums if it stays in contact for more than 15
minutes. The bleach currently used by dentists and in some home
bleaching kits is 10% carbamide(urea) peroxide. It is safe to
use for much longer periods of time than hydrogen peroxide.
Bleaching is usually done for a total time of 30-40 hours over
a period of days or weeks. Each bleaching session is usually from
30 minutes to 8 hours.
As someone who is the wife of a dentist and who has been around the
profession for 25 years, let me caution you against using household
bleach. It will not help with whitening your teeth and could potentially
make you ill. There is a bleaching process done in the dental office that
could be of some help (depending on the cause of the discoloration).
Please ask your dentist about it. If the discoloration is mild, you could
get some whitening from one of the toothpastes designed for that purpose.
