Can You Bleach Your Teeth With Clorox
Posted by Annmarie SanSevero
I’m looking to get white teeth, but had a question about a way to do it at home. Is it okay to use household bleach for whitening? I’m guessing that is what dentists use, right? I’m slowly moving toward a complete smile makeover, but figured I’d start with the easy thing first.
Edward
Dear Edward,
I’m very glad you wrote. Please don’t use household bleach to get your teeth whiter. Even though we call it bleaching your teeth, dentists do not actually use bleach. Instead, we use a special peroxide gel. This gel is much more powerful than the peroxide which you would get over the counter.
Let’s talk about the Clorox situation first. This is a base, like Lye. This type of base is very strong and can actually destroy the natural tissue in your mouth. One thing that is interesting, is that many dentists actually use bleach to help them clean out, by disintegrating all the debris and dead organic tissue left in the canal after a root canal treatment.
The safest and most effective way to whiten your teeth is to have the bleaching done by a dentist. They will use a special gel inside custom fitted trays. These trays ensure the gel stays on your teeth while protecting your gums and the inside of your mouth.
In fact, even if you were to get a complete smile makeover with porcelain veneers, your dentist would have you start with this type of whitening. That is because it is too expensive to veneer every tooth. You generally get between six and ten teeth, which are visible when you smile and then the whitening you had done helps the other teeth to blend in.
So, by having tray bleaching done, you are checking off step one on your smile makeover regime. Once you are ready for porcelain veneers, make sure you go to an expert cosmetic dentist. There are countless cosmetic dentistry horror stories where a patient ended up with a worse smile than they started with because the dentist didn’t have the training or artistry needed to do such an advanced procedure. I recommend looking for someone who is AACD accredited.
This blog is brought to you by a skilled cosmetic dentist in Franklin, TN Dr. Christopher Weber.
