Teeth Whitening Gel – Origin and Evolution

The most popular dental treatment nowadays is teeth whitening. Since the procedures for home teeth whitening were introduced on the market in 1989, over 15 millions Americans have used this technique in order to improve their smile and yearly, 2 or 3 millions people are added to this number. The teeth whitening gel is one of these methods and it can be applied both professionally in the dental cabinet and at home, without the medical prescription. The teeth whitening gel has an interesting origin and an evolution that is showing the need to obtain safer products.

Esthetic dentistry began to gain ground as far back as the late 1800's in America. In those early ages, it was very common for people to alter the shape of the front, visible teeth and as well to attempt to lighten them, using some kind of gels, based on salt or bicarbonate. Teeth whitening gel is manufactured nowadays based on hydrogen peroxide or carbamide peroxide, which were discovered as whitening elements by accident. Peroxides were first used in the 1960`s as an anti-inflammatory medicine in the dentist cabinets. The doctors were using them especially for orthodontic and periodontal therapies, but during their treatments, patients developed white areas on their teeth. Specialists researched this matter for more than 2 decades, until the result of the whitening products on the market today. At first, the teeth whitening gels had less safety, worse taste and were not so pleasant to use, but with time they got more practical, chemically safer and mint-flavored.

The chemical process that makes teeth whitening gel work is quite simple: the peroxides are brought in contact with the tooth, so the oxygen is released from these materials and decompounded. The oxygen gets combined then with the colored molecules that can be found on the tooth enamel and it increases their level of solubility and there for, they get whiter. The resulted products after the whitening include: oxygen, water and ammonia, elements which naturally exist in the human body.

Although they present various potential toxicological side effects, peroxides have been used for many years as an active ingredient in most tooth-whitening agents. The safety and the side effects of the teeth whitening gels have been investigated, and some products have been accepted as safe by the American Dental Association for whitening teeth. The main concern regarding the whitening products was that they contain a too higher level of PH, which can cause high sensitivity of the teeth by eroding the enamel so, after using the gel, a discomfort to cold, sweet and hot might appear. The PH of the teeth whitening gels should be around neutral, but the over-the-counter products have a PH ranging from 5.5 to 7.5. Some more expensive gels, used mostly professionally by the doctor have achieved to get an almost neutral PH and avoid these side effects.

Recently, potassium nitrate and fluoride have been added to some of the teeth whitening gels on the market, in order to prevent the increased sensitivity during and after the treatment, so the products that contain these elements are preferred.

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