Tooth Whitening Products?

DentistsScareMe! asks: "I'll admit it: I've got yellow-stained teeth, and it bugs the hell out of me. I've seen ads (infomercials) over the past few years, but knew them to be mostly hoax products and have steered clear. But now I've noticed the more major (and reputable) pharmaceutical companies jumping into the act, offering their own products. They're moderately expensive ($30-$50), but I'd be willing to foot the large sum _if_ I knew how well they worked. Their ads claim clinical proof, but what exactly does that mean? Did a researcher test the drug on a sample of people to measure effectiveness? Does use of the phrase 'clinically proven' require anything like FDA approval? Has anyone out there used any such product, or know someone who has? Care to comment on how well it has worked?"

Comments

being a bit more constructive...

[kootch]

go here http://www.epinions.com/content_61126119044

IANAD

[PD]

I am not a Dentist! Now that's a new one for Slashdot.

Seriously though, they work. Even the cheap ones work. At least they won't hurt you if you follow the directions, and if they do, I'm not a lawyer either, nor am I a millionaire that you can win money from. Before I spend a pile of dough I'd try a cheap one from the drugstore first. But that's me, and my teeth aren't yellow.

Welcome to /.'s new ad affiliate program.

[pb]

Well, not exactly new; many open source projects have been signed on for years, as well as some has-been writers and editors, and more recently some p2p companies as well, some government lobbies, the occasional tech press release or product endorsement, and a few anime and game production houses. But Crest is our first mainstream corporate client outside of the IT industry!

Please give them a warm welcome; you'll be seeing more of them at least every month, with specials on such riveting topics as tooth whitening, OSS in dentistry, the importance of regular check-ups, and more on the government's nefarious conspiracy with the snack food industry.

Re:Offtopic

[Slowping]

people ask questions to slashdot that should be directed to a lawyer all the time here. Why should teeth whitening be any different? I'm sure this affects just as many people, if not more, than some of those legal questions.

If we're going to apply standards for what gets posted to Ask Slashdot, we should do it uniformly, with well set rules.

coffee and pepsi and coke, oh my

[Naikrovek]

stop drinking coffee, pepsi, and coca-cola, and your teeth will whiten on their own.

the problem is that most people don't want to get rid of the things in their lives that cause problems, and elect to fix the effects rather than the problem itself.

stop drinking and eating things that stain your teeth, and they won't be yellow anymore. simple as that.

you'll save money, too.

Re:coffee and pepsi and coke, oh my

[Black Perl]

Also stop drinking red wine, grape juice, and eating tomatoes and chocolate. Oh, and stop getting older too, as your teeth become more porous.

In my opinion, the thing to do is to stop thinking of yellowing teeth as a "problem" that needs to be fixed. It's natural.

But if you are unduly influenced by Hollywood or all the Photoshopped magazine pictures, the thing to do is go to the dentist and get the real thing--a custom moulded tooth tray and whitening gel. My wife does this. There's a bit more upfront cost, but it works far better than the over-the-counter stuff, which won't get between your teeth.

Ask Slashdot: Antifungal Treatments?

[flockofseagulls]

I'll admit it: I've got fungus growing in my genital area and between my toes, and it bugs the hell out of me. I've seen ads (infomercials) over the past few years, but knew them to be mostly hoax products and have steered clear. But now I've noticed RiteAid and Walgreens selling "athletes foot" and "jock itch" treatments. They're moderately expensive ($5-$15), but I'd be willing to foot the large sum _if_ I knew how well they worked. Their ads claim clinical proof, but what exactly does that mean? Did a researcher test the drug on a sample of scrotii to measure effectiveness? Does use of the phrase 'clinically proven' require anything like FDA approval? Has anyone out there used any such product, or know someone who has? Did you use spray, ointment, or powder? Care to comment on how well it has worked? How long can you wear the same socks and underpants with this medication? Would you like to come over and apply the ointment or powder?

Here we go

[Cinematique]

Alright, I can speak on this with a good degree of authority, even though I am not a dentist.

First off - the toothpastes are no good. As someone already mentioned, they don't keep the peroxide close to your teeth long enough. Equally crappy are those paint-on peroxides.

White Strips are great, but they don't whiten all of your teeth, so you're left with a white section on otherwise dingy teeth. Plus it's relatively expensive for the results you get.

If you really want to whiten your teeth... you really should go see a dentist. You need to go regularly to make sure you don't have teeth that are rotting from the inside out. ...but I'm going to assume that you don't want to go to the dentist because they can be very expensive. Assuming that your teeth are in relatively good shape, but you drink a lot of coffee or what have you, your best bet is to search Google for a company offering both carbamide peroxide gel in syringes and CUSTOM-fit trays.

Here's the drill - You get a kit with a few syringes filled the carbamide peroxide gel, two trays, a lump of putty, and a pre-paid envelope. You take the putty, mash it into a tray and make an impression of your teeth. Take the tray, drop it into the envelope and send it to the company. Several weeks later, they send you custom-fit trays. Put some gel in the NEW tray and put the tray in your mouth for 15-30 minutes a day for a week or two. Several days later, bam... white teeth!

Re: Here we Go

[TubeSteak]

White strips are 'great' but they don't whiten all your teeth and they don't last. They're all 4/6/8% of some type of peroxide whitening agent and do not leave a lasting change. The kit that's being talked about above, is more like 18/22% and it will permanently change your smile in about 2 weeks. They suck b/c the stuff tastes kinda funky and you have to do it an hour each day, but the only possible side affect is sensitive teeth, which will go away if you stop using it.

Once again, don't use those shitty whitening strips. they'll only help if you keep using them, which is great for the company that's selling. Go make one big spend and have a permanently whiter smile.

Have you tried liquid paper?

[MarkusQ]

Have you tried liquid paper?

If not, don't. Liquid paper is not a good way to whiten your teeth. Normally I wouldn't think it neccessary to point that out, but since you also seemed to have missed the fact that:

Slashdot is not a good place to get medical advice

I thought that it might be worth mentioning.

-- MarkusQ

Re:Have you tried liquid paper?

[kinnell]

Slashdot is not a good place to get medical advice

That's where you're wrong. I happen to be a world renowned dentist and specialise in the whitening of grubby teeth. The solution is as follows:

1. You can't whiten you're teeth completely while there still in you're mouth - either have a dentist remove them, or if that is too expensive, remove them yourself. A pair of pliars will do the trick.
2. You need to dissolve the grime, so leave them to soak for two weeks in a cup of concentrated sulphuric acid. You can order this from a chemical supplier, but your local garage will probably have some in supply.
3. Remove the teeth from the acid, remebering to rinse well in distilled water.
4. Now simply replace you teeth in your mouth used the glue of your choice. I recommend araldite. A strip of gaffer/duct tape can help to hold them in until the glue sets.

The absolute best product

[Anonymous Coward]

Is the Crest's night time whiting stuff. You paint your teeth with it before you go to bed, and then brush it off in the morning. I recently used it before a wedding, and lots of people noticed my teeth were much whiter. I've also read some reviews that rated it above the others. It's a two week treatment, and you have to get used to sleeping with it on, but it works really really well.

some info

[lingqi]

as much as /. is not a good place for medical advice: howstuffworks is pretty good.

Re:what colorspace are you in?

[Anonymous Coward]

always found that Tipp-ex does a much 'whiter' job (closer to #000000)

#000000 is black. Hate to see your teeth.

(maybe you meant #ffffff)

Bleaching teeth

[Silh]

As a dentist, first of all, I cannot recommend anything for a specific situation without actually seeing the situation myself. There are different reasons why teeth are yellow, and different ways of whitening as well. As mentioned by many others, get a dentist to have a look at the situation first.

For some more general information about bleaching products: They are all peroxide-based, usually carbamide peroxide, which breaks down into hydrogen peroxide upon use. There are various ways of delivery. The over-the-counter methods such as the strips or paint-on system are lower in concentration than what you would find in a dentist-provided system, but basically the same thing. If you see a dentist, you can either have a home bleaching system made up for you, or have in-office bleaching done. The take-home system entails wearing a custom-made tray carrying the bleaching gel overnight. In-office bleaching uses quite a high concentration of peroxide, applied over a short period of time. Which one you pick depends on how much hassle you want, and costs will vary.

How well does it work? Generally, there will be some whitening, but how much depends on the patient. Smoking, coffee, and foods that stain are absolute no-no's, especially right when you're doing the bleaching, since the teeth at that point can very easily pick stains back up. 'Clinically proven' is a phrase I absolutely hate. To me, it's just a marketing phrase, and says nothing about the amount or quality of research that has been done on a particular product.

Last of all, there can be side effects from bleaching. Many people have reported sensitivity (hot and cold) after they've done it; It goes away for some. Also, I don't know of any long-term studies on whether the teeth are damaged in any way, or more susceptible to decay/etc., so that question is still up in the air.

Personally, I do bleaching for patients on occasion, but I don't really push it, due to concern about side effects. Plus, I find the resulting look can be unnatural compared to how natural teeth are supposed to look.

Re:Bleaching teeth

[FFFish]

"Also, I don't know of any long-term studies on whether the teeth are damaged in any way, or more susceptible to decay/etc., so that question is still up in the air."

And there's the kicker: you may get white teeth, but in doing so, you might also end up destroying them in the long run.

Faced with the choice of yellowish teeth 'til I die, or no teeth starting at age 55, I think I'll take the yellowish teeth for $300, Alex.

Whitening at home vs. dentist

[maunleon]

You basically have three options:

1. Buying somethng off shelf

These most of the times do not work. They are too weak, and they wash off too easily. If they have mouth guards, they are cheap ones that don't fit well.

The advantage is that if you have sensitive teeth this is the best option. And it's the cheapest.

Cost: $10-$40

2. Using something like BriteSmile or.. (whatever other names are.. Zoom?)

These work best. You sit in a chair, you watch a movie while an assistant props your mouth open and applies some paste. Then, they shine a light on the paste for an hour. You walk out with about 7 shades whiter.

Cost: about $500.
Advantages: fast! You can do it over lunch hour. Good results.

3. Dentist at-home whitening

Dentist gives you some syringes and a mouthguard. You add a little liquid to the mouthguard and wear them anywhere from 20 mins to overnight.

Cost: about $300 initial (mouth guard is expensive), plus about $45 to resupply syringes periodically. Can buy them much cheaper off the internet (same big brands)

Advantages: cheaper than britesmile, works much better than the off-the-shelf ones. Good results.
Disadvantages: expensive, most sensitivity issues (especially with 20% concentrations)

So, don't waste your money on off the shelf ones. Also, these things don't work on everything. If your teeth are gray because some medicine you took, you may need caps instead of bleaching. A dentist can tell you best.

Re:Offtopic

[cdrudge]

People ask questions to Slashdot that should be directed to a lawyer all the time here. Why should teeth whitening be any different?

I just asked my lawyer if the teeth whiteners work. He said he didn't know either.

tooth whitening at home

[budgenator]

While I'm not a dentist, I am a Dental Technicican who works for a dentist, and read the trades arround the office; so any opinions should be considered as questions for your licensed dental health providers.

1. Clinical Proof = A sample of patients, selected by the manufacter to be highly motivated to comply with treatment protocols, and to have stains that the product are most effective against, have achieved a statisticaly significant whitening. The tester are dentists of course, and publish in peer reviewed journals, so they of course use a professional level of ethics; but because the work is funded by a vendor, results that are complimentary to the vendor tend to get submitted to the publisher, results that arn't tend to get forgotten,
2. The amount of whitening is usualy poorly defined as a "shade" rather than well defined as in "Patient presented with shade A3.5 on the Vita Lumin(Tm) vacuum shade guide(an industry standard shade guide) and achieve shade A2 apon completetion of treatment".
3. FDA approval for Dental products are not as riggerous as for Medical Products. In fact materials that are FDA regulated are not regulated by OSHA,alowing dental personnel to be exposed to chemicals that would not be allowed in any other work places.
4. Teeth have two types of stain,
5. 1. external or extrinsic this is a staining of the bio-film, Plaque and tartar.
   2. internal or intrinstic staining of the actual tooth enamal such as coffee/tea/tobaco or even deeper levels as in tetracycline stains.
   
   
6. All tooth whitening products work by oxygen bleaching, which is released from peroxide ions, either hydrogen peroxide (weaker) or from carboxamides (stronger). Additionaly the oxygen tends to kill or inhibit anaerobic organisms which are more likely to be pathogenic and odor causing.

so I would recommend

1. a professional teeth cleaning at your dentist's office or a local
   dental hygiene school.
2. Using dent-mat's "Dazzling White" tooth paste kit,(low abrasion) or at least a bicarbonate of soda/hydrogen peroxide tooth paste and J&J's whitening dental floss for any remaining between teeth stains (abrasive).
3. an Over The Counter toothe whitening product.

don't get too carried away with the whitening, adults don't look natural with milk-white teeth, and teeth that are too white can make matching shades for restorative work immpossible. As for effectiveness I'd say that if the crest products were not effective, then the dental
community would not be so royaly pissed off at them for marketing direct to the public, instead of through the dentists. In offfice or dentist supplied take home kits do tend to work faster.