Advice on Teeth Whitening Discussion Thread

brook2jack

No read the post above. There is not an insurer in the land who will indemnify a non dental person to do whitening. There has been a successful prosecution recently for illegal practice of dentistry of a whitening clinic.



As posted above in a sensitive and important part of the body is it sensible to let someone with a couple of hours training assess if you are orally fit enough to have unknown chemicals with potentially permanently damaging effects placed inside you?

jasperconran

brook2jack wrote: »

No read the post above. There is not an insurer in the land who will indemnify a non dental person to do whitening. There has been a successful prosecution recently for illegal practice of dentistry of a whitening clinic.



As posted above in a sensitive and important part of the body is it sensible to let someone with a couple of hours training assess if you are orally fit enough to have unknown chemicals with potentially permanently damaging effects placed inside you?

No you read the post....I read your post and you just dont get it. I keep on telling you, she does not use any bleach based gels!!!!!!!!
You are entitled to your opinion, I am entitled to mine. As I said I am not getting into a long winded debate over this, I had it done, I was fine. She knows what to look for. end of discussion. I just wanted people to get different views/opinions, not for people to get on their soap boxes!!!!!!!

brook2jack

How long did your friend study oral anatomy,medicine and physiology? What peer reviewed studies did she look at to assess the efficacy and more importantly the safety of the unknown chemical she is using, after all the natural products nicotine and betel nuts are well known causes of mouth cancer.

Where is she getting supplies of her chemicals and does she let customers know exactly what's in them?

Whitening teeth is not like colouring your hair ( which is a risky enough business with the number of people with sensitivities to different components if hair dye/henna) you are asking someone to assess your oral health and status of fillings/crowns/gums and then lather on a chemical that is strong enough to change the colour of the strongest stuff in your body, enamel.

brook2jack

Ps it doesn't matter if it is not bleach based it is allegedly a chemical , natural or not, that is strong enough to change the colour of enamel, a substance harder than bone. Sticking a substance that can do that on teeth or gums has the potential to permanently damage teeth.

Alternatively she may be using a stain removal chemical , (strawberry based?) nicely abrasive and possibly corrosive. It may be natural but again can cause irreversible damage.

jasperconran

brook2jack wrote: »

How long did your friend study oral anatomy,medicine and physiology? What peer reviewed studies did she look at to assess the efficacy and more importantly the safety of the unknown chemical she is using, after all the natural products nicotine and betel nuts are well known causes of mouth cancer.

Where is she getting supplies of her chemicals and does she let customers know exactly what's in them?

Whitening teeth is not like colouring your hair ( which is a risky enough business with the number of people with sensitivities to different components if hair dye/henna) you are asking someone to assess your oral health and status of fillings/crowns/gums and then lather on a chemical that is strong enough to change the colour of the strongest stuff in your body, enamel.

peroxide long term can cause tongue cancer, do dentists tell people that? I doubt it. I dont think I am getting my point across, to do that, would take an awful long time and I dont have the time to explain and try and make you see the gels she uses are safe. Even if I did, I doubt you would believe me anyway.

So, I say again, I just wanted to give people on here a different point of view not get into a long winded debate/argument. end of discussion.

willing2learn_3

haven't read the whole thread but advice for whiter teeth - seriously - eat apples. When you bite into the apple let you teeth sit there for a while....they look whiter and brighter almost immediately and over a week or so a real difference is noticed. Apparently it's the malic acid in the apple, so good to them rinse mouth out with water afterwards - the acid removes the stain, kills plaque bacteria at the same time. Health benefit is that heart disease risk is lowered by daily apple consumption and part of that is due to reduction in plaque bacteria, which is linked to it.

brook2jack

As part of any dental treatment a patient has to give informed consent. All patients should be given information about the very many possible problems from whitening teeth. This is why so many people are not suitable for whitening or decide against it.

Also this is why it is so important that it is supervised by a professional , who can assess the ongoing health of gums etc and appropriate top up intervals.

You seem to assume because this unknown chemical your friend uses is natural that it is "100% safe". Nothing is 100% safe and very many natural products (alcohol, nicotine, betel nut,) have the potential to cause eg oral cancers, many natural products eg strawberries, peanuts, coconuts, pineapple have the potential to cause fatal anaphylactic events. On a more mundane level many natural products eg fruit juice,vinegar, have the potential to dissolve enamel or eg chalk , gypsum abrade away enamel.

You may not have the time to explain how this unknown substance is safe but I spend hours each week continuing to study and researching so I can explain the pros and cons of any proceedure and will not use anything without good peer reviewed research to back it up.

jasperconran

brook2jack wrote: »

You may not have the time to explain how this unknown substance is safe but I spend hours each week continuing to study and researching so I can explain the pros and cons of any proceedure and will not use anything without good peer reviewed research to back it up.

Ah yes but you cannot quote on this particular procedure as you know nothing about it!!!! and how would you know about all of these other procedures, unless you practice the procedure yourself? I am assuming you do? hmmmmmm......interesting;)

brook2jack

I know about trepanning where you drill a hole through someones head but thats not to say I do it.

Part of giving informed consent is telling people their options. There are many proceedures I know alot about but don't personally do because
A I refer to a specialist for that proceedure as they will get a better result than me

B I don't think proceedure is right for patient

C the research shows proceedure doesn't work or is harmful

D it's an old fashioned proceedure and modern methods have superseded it.

Dentistry is not a job to go into if you are not willing to constantly learn and change. Part of that is attending lectures, subscribing to journals and liasing with colleagues from around the world.

The result of this is whatever "wonder treatment" your friend is using if it does anything it is not risk free. If she is not a dental professional she cannot give a reasonable judgement on whether someone is dentally fit enough to have treatment. She may have public liability insurance (from your deleted posting) but that is not clinical indemnity it will cover if someone trips over some equipment but not damage to their mouth.

jasperconran

bored..........people are entitled to their own opinions. dont you work? you seem to be on this forum all day and all night!

I have told my friend your comments. She replied that there are many many salons which are doing laser teeth whitening, although apparently the light shes uses is LED not laser. not sure of the difference myself.

Teeth whitening is a big money making market, whether people agree with it or not, is irrelevant. people are paying for it, demand is high. Its down to the individual, is it not, to decide whether or not they should or shouldnt proceed???