At ProActive Dental Studio, our Surrey dentists advise against teeth whitening for children for a few important reasons.
Once in a while, a concerned parent will ask us about the dark or yellowish colour of their children's newly erupting adult teeth. They wonder if teeth whitening may be the solution.
There are two main reasons that our dentists will not prescribe teeth whitening for children:
1. There's probably not really a problem.
Erupting adult teeth have much more dentin in them than baby teeth do. Dentin is the second layer of the teeth, just under the enamel, and it is yellow in colour. This can make the adult teeth look significantly more yellow than the remaining baby teeth, by contrast.
In short, once all the baby teeth have fallen out, the darker colour of the adult teeth will be much less obvious.
2. We have little data on the impact whitening products have on developing teeth.
The fact is, the scientific community doesn't really don’t know how teeth whitening may affect teeth that are still developing.
There simply isn’t a reliable body of evidence and data available for us to make an informed decision about whether teeth whitening is safe for children’s teeth.
Instead of risking adverse side effects for children, responsible dentists typically only prescribe teeth whitening for teenage or adult patients.