Does Teeth Whitening Damage The Teeth Or Not?

Hello, DentAbroaders! Welcome back! Today we’re going to talk about an interesting subject; does teeth whitening damage your teeth?

Having all your teeth filed down and crowned is not the only way to own pearly whites. Instead of such an adventure you can get your natural ones whitened easily. Obviously, this seems like a safer procedure to undergo. But, is it? 

I know most of you guys are worried about whether whitening is a safe procedure or not. ‘Cause, you think about getting a whitening done instead of a full smile makeover just so you don’t damage your natural teeth in the first place! So what’s the point if the whitening is gonna mean harm to your teeth anyway!

Well… Good news and bad news at the same time. Bad news first; yes, whitening can be considered to damage your teeth. And the good news is; this damage is considered to be completely reversible! As long as you follow the rules of course.

To create a better understanding about how does teeth whitening damage the teeth, let’s start with explaining the mechanism of the whitening procedure first. I know you all hate these complicated scientific explanations but come on guys, admit it, you are here for some information and here it is! It’s really important to know what’s going on and how it is going on to make your own decisions.

During the whitening session, there’s a bleaching gel on your teeth. Even if you do the whitening at home by yourselves, still you have to apply some bleaching gel. These bleaching gels contain a compound called hydrogen peroxide. And what hydrogen peroxide does is to detach some minerals from your teeth. This is what i mentioned before as bad news. After all, who would want their teeth’s integrity to be disrupted? But this demineralization is what makes your set seem whiter in the end.

Still, no need to worry. Because this demineralization is something reversible. If you give your teeth the chance to reverse it. Yes, they are are capable of remineralizing themselves if they’ve got the chance. By saying “to give them a chance” i mean “giving them time”. When you go through the whitening session once, your dentist will probably advise you not to repeat the procedure before at least two years (or six months, if you’ve done the home whitening). You should listen to your dentist and follow his/her instructions. I know you wanna have the whitest white set all the time but this is not the human nature. Our  teeth are supposed to be different from each other and they’re mostly a bit yellowish by their nature. You can’t keep a pearly white set all the time unless you’ve got some prosthetics like crowns or veneers. And if your primary aim is to keep them as their natural selves then you should know that it’s not possible for everyone’s natural teeth to be pearly white all the time.  

Having that said, let’s break down what’s going on after the whitening session to help you understand how does teeth whitening damage your teeth and what happens afterwards. After the whitening session, now your teeth got whiter but also they have lost some minerals. Over time, they will begin to remineralize. And as they get mineralized they will begin to turn their original colour which is usually yellower. This process will take about two years after in-office whitening session and six months after home whitening sessions. This is due to the gel concentrations being different from one another. Home whitening gels have a lower concentration than in-office whitening gels so it’s faster for the teeth to remineralize after home whitening sessions. In other words, in-office whitening results are better than the home whitening results and they last longer but they also demineralize the teeth more so that you should wait for a longer time to repeat the in-office whitening.

I can hear the question that appears in your mind; what if you repeat the whitening sessions before these time periods.

I must say that, if you happen to repeat those sessions before the appropriate time period and you keep on doing so, then you’ll begin to have some trouble with your teeth. They will probably get crumbled over time and you can see them getting chipped off easily. I don’t even mention the hypersensitivity and the decays that it will cause. You should really think it through; is it really worth losing your teeth over a pursuit of whiteness? 

I don’t think so. It’s okay to have them whitened on a regular basis but, just don’t be obsessive about having the whitest teeth. If you’re obsessive about having the whitest ones then instead of having too often whitening sessions you can think about having a smile makeover maybe. There are relatively conservative types of smile makeovers such as lumineers.

So, DentAbroaders, what have we learned today? Now that you know how does teeth whitening damage your teeth and how does it reverse in time, it’s okay to say you can have your teeth whitened, but, there are some rules to follow. As long as you follow those rules, it’s okay to have whitening sessions without damaging your natural teeth. But you should keep in mind that, when you start being obsessive about white teeth and become a whitening addict, then things will start getting out of control. 

You know you can always contact us for any questions in your mind. Team DentAbroad will always be delighted to help you. Please send us your ideas about which topics you would want to read here. Until another article, take very good care of yourselves, DentAbroaders! Stay safe and don’t forget to brush your teeth! See you in another one!