Friday 13 April 2012

What Ingredients Can I Expect To Find In Teeth Whitening Gels ?

When picking a teeth whitening product, you want to feel 100% confident that the ingredients it contains won’t damage/harm your teeth and gums. For this reason it is only natural that you want to know what it contains. You want to keep your body safe.

Fortunately, when it comes teeth whitening products, the best kinds contain a combination of the following ingredients:

• Carbamide Peroxide - this is the most common ingredient in teeth whiteners, and is essential for converting coloured compounds into colourless compounds.Breaking down into hydrogen peroxide and urea, this allows oxygen to enter into your enamel and dentin, and bleach your teeth a lighter colour. Now of all the ingredients, carbamide peroxide offers the best pH balance and as such does not irritate your gums as much as other ingredients. Note: a solution of 10% Carbamide Peroxide will break down into 3% Hydrogen Peroxide
• Hydrogen Peroxide - this naturally occurs when carbamide peroxide is broken down, so it is not surprising that some teeth whitening products choose to skip a stage and start of with hydrogen peroxide.Compared to carbamide peroxide though, hydrogen peroxide is a lot weaker and has been known to irritate gums.
• Sodium Percarbonate - a common oxidising agent, sodium percarbonate dissolves in water to produce hydrogen peroxide and sodium carbonate. And it is the hydrogen peroxide produced from this reaction that helps to trigger active oxygen in your teeth’s pores.
• Sodium Perbromate - similar to sodium percarbonate, sodium perbromate acts as an oxidising agent breaking down and producing hydrogen peroxide.
• Propylene glycol - is traditionally used to stop the product from drying out.
• Fluoride - needs to be used with a ‘pinch of salt’ as excessive quantities can worsen discolouration as well as cause teeth degeneration.

It is easy to spot the theme amongs these ingredients i.e. the use of hydrogen peroxide to convert coloured compounds into colourless compounds. Yet these ingredients alone are not enough to produce quality teeth whitening. Their concentration can also influence their effectiveness at whitening your teeth.
When it comes to teeth whitening gel, it is recommended that you use no stronger than 16% Carbamide Peroxide as this is strong enough to help whiten your teeth by 11 shades in 2 weeks, without causing irritation.

Go any higher than 16% and you run the risk of experiencing white spots, irritation and bleeding. Go less than 10% and well… you are unlikely to experience any promising teeth whitening results

We think you’ll agree that there is more to picking a teeth whitening product than knowing its ingredient content. You also need to examine its concentration, how it is applied, its medical backing and endorsements, and its case studies.

So if you looking to recapture your pearly whites, remember to do your research first and take all of the above points into consideration.

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