does whitening toothpaste really work?

[vanilla_rice]

i seem to remember an article that said whitening toothpaste is a scam, but i'm not sure. does anybody know?

[voguevixen]

I seem to remember something about this in Consumer Reports maybe. The gist of it was they might help if your teeth are darkened by coffee or tobacco, by removing stains, but actual tooth color needs to be done with chemicals by your dentist. Also, there's a scale of tooth color (the scientific name escapes me.) Most whiteners claim to whiten by I think 2 degrees of whiteness on this scale, which is barely perceiveable to the naked eye.

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Shine on, you crazy diamond!

[neuro-trash grrrl]

Hmmm, I've been using whitening toothpaste for some time now, and it seems to work for me, but I haven't done any rigorous tests, so I can't say for sure... I will be watching this thread with great interest, though.

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Heck is where you go when you don't believe in Gosh.

[xekul]

Most whitening toothpastes just contain abrasives, which remove surface stains. If your teeth are pretty clean, they won't do much, and even if they're stained, they still won't do much. The chemical you get from your dentist is hydrogen peroxide or carbamide peroxide, which releases oxygen to actually bleach your teeth. I got this done a few months ago, and I love the results. But my teeth were stained because I had to take tetracycline as a kid, and they were pretty bad to start with. Some drugstores and web sites sell carbamide peroxide kits, but make sure they have at least a 10% concentration. Also, the tray they use to hold the stuff onto your teeth might not fit perfectly, which can apparently cause problems. It's a heck of a lot cheaper than paying a few hundred dollars to your dentist, though.

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``When I was little, my mother told me not to look into the sun. So one day when I was six, I did.'' -- Max Cohen in Pi: The Movie.

[D Marie]

FWIW, my dentist told me not to use the whitening toothpastes because they are often irritating to the gums.

I have one relatively noticeable mark on one of my front teeth (tetracycline), and because of this, another dentist I used to go to started me on a bleaching kit. (All of my teeth could benefit from a little whitening.) The bleaching kit did nothing for the stain because it is not on the surface, and I saw no real results on the rest of my teeth. My teeth are healthy and not really that bad looking, and I determined that the bleaching was in no way worth the trouble. YMMV.

[ASPA]

Informative replies. What about Enamalon? Does it help retard loss of or replace lost enamol>

[Jois]

Hey, Vanilla_Rice, that's a great name for asking this question!


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Are you driving with your eyes open or are you using The Force? - A. Foley

[ASPA]

Originally posted by ASPA:
Informative replies. What about Enamalon? Does it help retard loss of or replace lost enamol --- HUH?>

[handy]

I see dentists clean teeth but they don't use anything really special. Can a person clean their own teeth?