Will Household Bleach Whiten Teeth?
If I am looking to whiten my teeth but don’t really want to go to the dentist, would using household bleach to rinse around in your mouth whiten them? I’m looking for options to improve my smile but am new to town and haven’t really set up with a dentist yet.
Avelyn
Dear Avelyn,
Bleach, such as Clorox used in laundry, is a base. Another base you may have heard of is Lye. It’s a rather strong corrosive that will destroy living tissue. In fact, dentists often use it in root canal treatments. An active ingredient in bleach, is sodium hypochlorite. This cleanser can be used inside a tooth to get rid of any dead organic material left in a tooth. While it dissolves the organic material, it also cleanses the inside of the tooth, like a disinfectant. This isn’t dentists using cheap-o material. It is actually a process taught in dental school.
If you swish it around in your mouth, then you are going to be damaging any tissue you have in your mouth, including your cheeks and gums. The only safe and effective way to whiten your teeth is with professional teeth whitening.
Second, when bleach comes in contact with certain types of other chemicals, it is a reaction which actually turns it into a deadly gas. You would not want to breathe those vapors in.
I would use this as an opportunity to find your new dentist. You will have to have your teeth thoroughly cleaned before you whiten them anyway. If you don’t do that, then your results will be splotchy.
While you are looking for a dentist, is a good time to assess what type of services you need. The dental world has really grown. While teeth whitening is, technically, a cosmetic procedure, it is the easiest of the cosmetic procedures and pretty much any dentist can do it. However, if you are going to want any of the more advanced procedures, such as porcelain veneers, then you will want a dentist with advanced post-doctoral training in smile makeovers. These are not adequately taught in dental school and a dentist has to invest in training after they graduate to get the training they need.
This blog is brought to you by Moline Dentist Dr. Thomas Goebel.
Titanium of Zirconia Dental Implants?
Can you tell me if I should get zirconia implants instead of titanium? The thing that has me worried is I read an article that said that the titanium will cause neurological effects. I already have two of them and this has me quite worried. I understand that there is a possibility that I can switch them out. Would you recommend that?
Eugenia
Dear Eugenia,
I would love to know what article you read. There are no studies that I know of that talk about neurological problems, or any biological problems, from titanium. I do tend to pay attention to these issues. If it makes you feel better to know this, titanium is one of the most biocompatible metals there is. It’s been used for decades as a prosthetic both in teeth, hips, as well as many other places in the body. There have been no reports of anything negative in all this time.
However, one thing I want you to think about before you make any decisions regarding switching your dental implants is the difficulty in doing that. First, the original dental implants will have to be removed. That is one surgery. When your implants are removed, it will take bone with it. In order to have dental implants, you need adequate bone support. To get that you will need bone grafting done. That is a second surgery. Once that has healed, you will then need to have the zirconia implants placed. That is a third surgery.
In other words, you will need three surgeries in which something can go wrong at any point. Currently you have healthy dental implants. If you give them up, you can no longer be sure of that. My suggestion is that you leave the current healthy implants where they are. If you ever need another dental implant and you want to try the zirconia, then I recommend you see an implant dentist who also provides metal free dental care.
This blog is brought to you by Moline Dentist Dr. Thomas Goebel.