Featured Review: Home-based chemical bleaching of teeth in adults

Authors from Cochrane Oral Health asked the question, “What evidence is available regarding the different home-based chemically-induced bleaching agents in whitening teeth?” Therecently published Cochrane Review is an update on a previous version, published in 2006.There has been an increasing demand for whiter teeth. Home-based whitening products with a bleaching action have become popular and are available to patients from a dentist or purchased by patients themselves over-the-counter. A variety of whitening products are available which include:hydrogen peroxidecarbamide peroxidesodium percarbonatesodium hexametaphosphatesodium tripolyphosphatecalcium peroxideThese agents are supplied in different concentrations and are used with different methods of application  (gel in tray, strips, paint-on gel, chewing gum, and mouthwash), which have varying application times and duration of treatment. The authors included 71 trials that involved 3,780 adults who underwent teeth whitening procedures with various bleaching agents using different methods of application, length of application and duration of treatment. 26 studies compared a bleaching agent to placebo and 51 studies compared one ble aching agent to another bleaching agent.Lead author, Prashanti Eachempati, said:  “The bleaching agents whitened teeth compared to placebo over a short time period (from 2 weeks to 6 months). However, the evidence currently available is insufficient to draw reliable conclusions regard...
Source: Cochrane News and Events - Category: Information Technology Authors: Source Type: news