Teeth Whitening Essay

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Teeth whitening is an ever increasing procedure being requested by many patients. In this paper, I will be discussing the biological and chemical mechanisms of teeth whitening, the difference between in office and take home whitening, current products on the market, and current issues and safety concerns regarding teeth whitening. Knowledge of these topics is important to have to be able to safely recommend in office or at home whitening options. Color can be viewed based on three different dimensions. The Munsell color system classifies colors based on hue, value, and chroma. Hue describes the color family or underlying tone (e.g., green, blue, red). Value describes the brightness or darkness on the scale on zero to ten, zero being white and ten being black. Chroma describes the saturation or vividness of a color. The appearance of teeth is affected in three ways by whitening. First, whitening reduces the amount of chroma in the tooth—the pigment or intensity of color is reduced. Second, whitening changes the hue, or color, or the teeth. Thirdly, whitening changed the value of the teeth. It is important to understand the natural color of teeth. Individual teeth vary in color in their thirds. The incisal third is usually the lightest because it is composed of mostly translucent enamel. The middle third is the next darkest and is closer to the color of dentin, but is modified by the translucent enamel that covers it. The cervical third in the darkest portion of the tooth because enamel in thinnest in this region, and the color of dentin is more visible. When looking at the smile as a whole, the shade of individual teeth varies between each other. The maxillary centrals are usually the lightest teeth and have a higher value. Maxill... ... middle of paper ... ...because the residual oxygen from the whitening gels created an oxygen-inhibited layer. It is recommended that clinicians delay the placement of bonded restorations until 1-3 weeks after treatment (Can-Karabulut et al 2011). Since whitening agents produce free radicals, some people may question the carcinogenicity of those products. A literature review conducted by Munro et al in 2006 looked at more than 100 clinical studies. Results showed that there is no date to show that hydrogen peroxide poses a carcinogenic risk to human oral mucosa at the exposure levels associated with tooth whitening. Mice models did show that hydrogen peroxide at high levels is genotoxic and carcinogenic, but humans posses more catalase activity than animals. Also, hydrogen peroxide concentrations were found to be highest in the gingiva, but this is a site where oral cancer is rarely found.

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