I asked my doctor about why I couldn’t whiten my teeth using Clorox bleach and he gave me a whole litany of reasons. After he acted like I was an idiot and pretty much said so, he also added that dentists don’t use bleach like I was planning to but a peroxide bleaching gel. I was too embarrassed to talk to him any more about it. Now that I’m home, I’m wondering if I can use household peroxide to do the same thing? Please don’t tell me I’m an idiot. Just explain yes or no.

Carla

---

Dear Carla,

 

I’m glad you wrote. First, you should never suffer verbal abuse or condescension from a medical professional. I would like to gently suggest you look for a new dentist. Your question was not stupid and neither is the one you asked me. Rather, it shows an inquisitive mind trying to put together care for herself with the information she has.

While peroxide does whiten, what you get with a bottle you could purchase over-the-counter will not give you what you need. It is only 3%. What your dentist will use will be a minimum of 33%. However, the strength is not the only obstacle. The peroxide would need to stay on your teeth for a minimum of fifteen minutes to have an effect. The only way to keep that on your teeth with the home peroxide is to swish it around in your mouth for that length of time. That would be challenging to say the least.

Your dentist accomplishes this by using it in a gel and either putting it in teeth bleaching trays to keep it on your teeth or painting it on with Zoom Whitening.

A second consideration is the importance of being under the care of a dentist during the procedure. There have been cases where someone used an over-the-counter whitening product that is considered safe and still ended up needing a root canal treatment as a result of the whitening. The last thing you need is ending up with a dental emergency simply because you wanted a whiter smile.

This blog is brought to you by Lafayette, LA Dentists Drs. Foreman and Thimmesch.