I’ve been having great success doing my teeth whitening at-home. The last two days, though, something has changed. I’ve had a sharp pain on and off which lasts for less than a minute. But, it is painful and is difficult to deal with. The tooth I’ve noticed it with has bonding on it due to a chip I had repaired. Could the whitening be damaging the bonding? Should I stop the whitening?
Pamela
Dear Pamela,
I’m glad you are pleased with the progress you have made thus far in your teeth whitening. It is highly unlikely the whitening gel is damaging the bonding. Patients have whitened successfully for years around dental bonding without issue. The more likely scenario is there is a more exposed sensitive part of your tooth.
My hope is you are under the care of a dentist with your whitening and not just doing it on your own. Talk to your dentist. They can do something to protect that sensitive part of your tooth which will allow you to continue whitening. I wouldn’t whiten until then.
Dental Bonding and Teeth Whitening
Hopefully, your dentist mentioned this ahead of time, but while your teeth will whiten, the dental bonding will not. The gel is only effective on natural tooth structure. Once you reach the color level you want you will need to replace the bonding on your tooth to get it to match.
This isn’t just the case with dental bonding, it would be the same if you had a dental crown or porcelain veneers as well.
This blog is brought to you by Baton Rouge Dentist Dr. Steven Collins.