Teeth Whitening Side Effects - You Can Prevent Them!

vwalker | Oct 30, 2009 |

0 Comments | Rating: 0

Have you ever considered whitening your teeth at home? There are many whitening kits available on the market today. Most of them are based on a carbamide peroxide gel. This carbamide peroxide chemical is basically hydrogen peroxide plus urea. Urea is bound with hydrogen peroxide to give the hydrogen peroxide a longer shelf life. Hydrogen peroxide itself is the active ingredient in teeth whitening gels. But the problem is that it decays rapidly. So that's why urea is used to make it last longer while it's laying on the store shelves. The urea itself plays no role in the whitening process.

Side Effects Of Teeth Whitening

Because of the fact that the hydrogen peroxide, that is released from the carbamide peroxide once it gets in touch with a moist environment, is such an aggressive chemical, it has been known to cause some damage in people that have managed to used it incorrectly. Hydrogen peroxide might be very effective at bleaching teeth because of its oxidizing ability which allows it to break down ugly stains. But this is really a double edged sword. If hydrogen peroxide is used the wrong way, then it can cause you to suffer from side effects or you can even damage your teeth permanently. Hydrogen peroxide is the biggest cause of all the problems of teeth whitening.

The hydrogen peroxide is always mixed up in a gel like substance. The gel must be applied to your teeth and there it must stay for an extended period of time. Usually a few hours per day. The dentist can treat you in less than an hour, but that's because he uses a blue light lamp that accelerates the process of the hydrogen peroxide gel. When you're using a whitening kit at home, you're going to have to put up with the gel in your mouth for at least a few hours per day. And because of this, you are very likely to accidentally swallow some of the hydrogen peroxide gel.

This is where a lot of the side effects can come from. Since hydrogen peroxide starts to react heavily once it gets in touch with water, it will certainly cause a lot of irritation to the soft tissues in your mouth. This chemical does not discriminate between your teeth and your soft tissues, unfortunately. Don't worry too much when this happens. The concentrations used in hydrogen peroxide gels are not high enough that they can cause damage to your soft tissues. You may also experience nausea and headaches from swallowing hydrogen peroxide. These side effects are also temporary and are likely to go away after a few hours.