Dr. Hall,
\nOn the subject of teeth whitening, why can’t I just rinse with 3% hydrogen peroxide that I can buy in the drug store to achieve mild whitening?
\n– Cathy in Louisiana<\/p>\n
Cathy, The discoloration in teeth is usually fairly deep. Your enamel is generally pretty translucent, and most of the color in your teeth comes from the dentin. So the object is to whiten the dentin.<\/p>\n Crest Whitestrips<\/a> have a peroxide concentration of about 5 or 6%. The instructions are to wear the strip for thirty minutes a day for two weeks, and this produces a very\u00a0mild whitening. If you rinse with 3% peroxide, your concentration is half that of the whitestrips, and if you rinse for one or two minutes, that will seem like an awfully long time.<\/p>\n I doubt you could go longer than that. So you can do the math and see how weak the effect of this technique will be: about one-fiftieth of the whitening power of Crest Whitestrips.<\/p>\n Dr. Hall.<\/p>\n Related information:
\nRinsing with peroxide might have a mild tooth whitening<\/a> effect. But it will be very, very mild. The problem is that the whitening agent has to soak into your teeth, and in order to do that, it has to be in contact with your teeth for at least fifteen minutes. When you use the dentist-supervised at-home treatment, you wear the trays sometimes for a couple of hours or even overnight, which allows deep penetration into your teeth.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\nRead about Zoom whitening<\/a>.
\nRead about tooth whitening relapse<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n
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