Your best friend’s sister knows a friend whose work friend does whitening from home. And they only charge $100! And they can do it from the comfort of their home or yours.
HOLD ON – this sounds dodgy!
I am not saying the friend doing this isn’t a good person and I am not saying they are going to ruin your teeth…
What I am saying is that if I got offered some facial injectables or a tattoo but it was in my friend’s, friend’s brother’s garage, I would probably think twice about it.
DIY Whitening Can Be Dangerous
Sure, as a dental nurse I have assisted in thousands of procedures, and I could probably do it myself if I weren’t worried about the ethical and physical complications. I watch Grey’s Anatomy, but I am not a doctor.
My experience in the clinic does not make me a dentist and it doesn’t make me the best person to do your whitening even if it is super cheap and your mate had it done and it turned out pretty good.
Back in 2019, Dr Norah Ayad told the ABC, “The worst-case we’ve seen in our practice is very severe gum burn, and it is a chemical burn.
“This patient had severe ulceration all over their mouth because this bleach had come into contact with everywhere around their mouth, their cheeks, their lips, their tongue and around their gumline.
“It took several weeks to resolve, and the patient was in a lot of pain.”
That’s just one case; the facts are this happens every day to people that go to non-clinical environments for teeth whitening by non-professionals.
Inferior Results, Higher Risk
The stuff that people are putting on your teeth at home might not even be bleach. Some have such a weak concentration that they do nothing, while others sold online have concentrations of chemicals that would not be allowed on the shelves of Australian stores.
Because legally only dental professionals have access to properly graded teeth whitening products. It’s not just Australia that has the laws.
In New Zealand, non-dentists may apply up to 12 percent hydrogen peroxide to whiten teeth and in the UK, it’s illegal for anyone other than dentists to use concentrations higher than 0.1 percent.
Anything else could come from just about anyone and have anything in it. Is it worth the risk?
Dental Pros Know What They’re Doing
Here’s the long and the short of whitening your teeth:
Each of your teeth is made up of an inner dentin layer and a hard outer enamel layer, which protects the teeth.
When you eat, drink, smoke or even swim in a chlorine pool, another layer gradually forms on top of the enamel layer accumulating to form a pellicle film over the enamel layer.
Enamel is porous which means stains can work their way down into the tooth, where you cannot simply clean them away. The deeper stains are harmless, but many people find them unattractive.
The whiteners use bleaching chemicals to get down into the tooth enamel and set off a chemical reaction (specifically, an oxidization reaction) that breaks apart the staining compounds. This causes your teeth to whiten and clean away any stains.
I do not know about you, but I try to stick to the maxim – “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
For professional teeth whitening that gets fantastic results, contact Lightwood Dental today!
Any invasive or surgical procedure may carry risks. Before moving forward, it is recommended that you seek a second opinion from an appropriately licensed medical professional.