I saw someone post on social media that she’s going to do an experiment to see if she bleaches her teeth with Clorox if they will look as good as those people who do teeth whitening through a dentist. Have you heard of someone doing this and it turning out well?
Millie
Dear Millie,
Great question! While I am all for a curious, scientific mind, I don’t recommend your friend experiment on herself. Now, if she wanted to get some extracted teeth and do a side-by-side comparison, that would be safer. Maybe mention that to her. Lucky for you, you won’t need to experiment, because I already have the answer.
Let’s start with a principle of teeth whitening. For there to be any real effect, the whitening gel has to soak into the porous surfaces of your teeth. General consensus is you need a minimum of 15 to 20 minutes for that to work. I can’t imagine swishing Clorox around your teeth for that period of time.
More than that, however, is that bleach is a base. You may be familiar with another base called Lye. Both of these are strong enough to burn living tissue. In fact, dentists use it to dissolve away dead organic debris during a root canal treatment. With this in mind, I would be concerned with damage to her gums and inside her cheeks if she did manage to tolerate it in her mouth for any extended period of time.
The best and safest option is to have your teeth whitened through a dentist. It is proven effective and safe.
This blog is brought to you by Baton Rouge Dentist Dr. Steven Collins.