Advice on Teeth Whitening Discussion Thread

Katykat

Toothsmith ( or whoever elase has an answer). I use Arm & hammer Enamel Care- about £3.50. Its got the exact same ingredients as pearl Drops Liquid Calcium - cost £7.50. I'd like to know what ingredient it is that causes the whitening. Is it the sodium bicarbonate or maybe the PEG-8 which is contained in both these products, but not in other well known brands. I have to say that I have noticed a brighter sparkle to my teeth since using it. i did ask my dentist to whiten them but he advised that they were already as white as he could get them, so he did save me a lot of money

Toothsmith

Sodium bicarb is a decent stain remover, although it doesn't intrinsically change the colour of a tooth. I'm afraid I have no idea at all as to what PEG-8 is! Must have been poorly the day we did that!

Toothsmith

As coincidence would have it, last night, a colleague within the General Dental Council (GDC) posted this message on a dental forum.

Apologies for it's length, but I feel it explains things very well, and that something very active is being done to stop the untrained 'whitening salons' - and that there are people out there who have suffered very real problems from attending such places.

Beware now anybody popping up on this site and 'advertising' your own whitening salon. I personally will send all web kinks to the GDC from now on.

Dear All,

Here is the latest update from the world of the GDC regarding their
work on the illegal practice of dentistry and related issues.
This is a LONG posting, so apologies in advance!

Regarding non-Dentists doing toothwhitening, as I've stated before
the GDC's position on this is clear - only registered Dentists are
competent to do toothwhitening - there is currently at least one case
of a DCP going through GDC fitness to practice disciplinary procedures
because they are not regarded as competent to provide toothwhitening
services direct to the public. {Toothsmith explains -DCP = Dental Care Professional ie a hygienist, or a dental nurse - someone in 'the business, but not a dentist'}
I know this may seem harsh when it appears that non-registrants are
offering toothwhitening directly to the public and getting away with
it, with all the increased risks to the public, from irreversible
dental damage to medical history complications and cross-infection
concerns etc.

However the GDC continue to be very pro-active on this and are
working with other agencies too, to protect the public in the wider
sense also.
For example, any, I repeat ANY complaint made to the GDC about
illegal practice IS investigated.
Obviously the more information sent to them the better, but at the
very least, a copy of an advert stating the company/illegal
denturist/beauty parlour etc. details offering dentistry services,
where and when noted etc, is the minimum they need to investigate.

The GDC have even gone as far as investigating the illegal practice
of dentistry by hiring Private Investigators to go under cover and/or
directly interviewing under caution such business activities if they
suspect illegal practice of dentistry activities.

So far I believe 20,000 out of 40,000 beauty establishments have
ceased offering toothwhitening services to the public and some
insurance companies for those offering cover through beauty
associations etc, now won't offer legal cover/indemnity for
toothwhitening.

Some salons/illegal toothwhitening services to the public when
contacted by the GDC warning of further action etc, often immediately
cease such activities, but also say they have just acquired 5k+ of
toothwhitening equipment, that still needs to be paid-off to such
firms selling/promoting toothwhitening schemes for such high sums to
non-dentists!
The GDC's legal work on this area continues and they are also
focusing on the bigger culprits/supplier firms who are
selling/providing/promoting such toothwhitening
equipment/training/activities on a national scale.

You may also be interested to know there are some 80 legal cases from
the public suing such toothwhitening establishments for damage
and one case I am aware of was awarded 16,000 pounds for damages
because the chemicals used permanently worsened the customer's Asthma!
The Salon insurance won't cover this (suprise,suprise!) liability and
the toothwhitening salon are now trying to pass responsibility
onto the company that sold them the tooth whitening equipment
because they said it was safe, anyone could do it without being a
Dentist etc, etc.

So that is another area that is also progressing and in some ways,
these Toothwhitening salons need warning of such consequences for
themselves IMHO.

One company so far offering these Toothwhitening services on a
national scale has stopped trading completely in the UK now and the
GDC is looking at other national entities too. Some of these appear
to be arguing that toothwhitening is cosmetic, not dental/medical,
but apparently despite their claims that they have their own legal
opinion on this, when requested to submit that opinion for direct
legal challenge, this has not been produced in writing. The GDC's
legal position on toothwhitening is that even if the outcome
is "cosmetic", the process to achieve this is still "Dentistry",
under the remit of the Dentists Act.

In short, Dentistry, from a legal point of view, includes ANYTHING
that permanently or semi-permanently changes the appearance of teeth,
full stop.

The GDC are now preparing legal cases to take these forward through
the whole court processes - this will take time but needs to be
established in case law.

The GDC requests that if you are aware of Toothwhitening being
provided by anyone other than Dentists, to please inform them
directly - they don't mind if they get 100's/1000's people informing
them and have dedicated systems/staff to deal with this now, so do
use it!

floyd

Resident biochemist here, PEG is poly ethylene glycol more commonly known as a synthetic polymer and acts as a binding agent to keep everything evenly dispersed throughout the toothpaste.
Its in lots of gels, creams and lubricants because it has a very low toxicity level

JennyW_2

Toothsmith wrote: »

This seems a bit OTT.

Maybe he's discouraging you from buying any more!! But it would really be better just to tell you!

no, that's just the price for top up syringes - 3 of them and SMALL ones too! Wont be doing that again in a hurry.

Toothsmith

So it's 3 for £50?

That's not so bad.

JennyW_2

Toothsmith wrote: »

So it's 3 for £50?

That's not so bad.

oh ok. They were the mini ACP whitening syringes. I just heard on here that others have bought them cheaper from their dentist.

SparkyG

JennyW wrote: »

oh ok. They were the mini ACP whitening syringes. I just heard on here that others have bought them cheaper from their dentist.

Less than £5 each from www.dentist.net

My dentist charges £15 a syringe (same size, same strength, different brand)

donteatthat

Jenny - I think your pricing on that is probably high as you are in Surrey!

I provide Daywhite ACP to my patient's for £60 for a box of 6.
And CP for £45 for 4 tubes.
Which is a bit more reasobnable.

skyrocket

i use the crest whitestrips. they do the trick marvelously.