Post Punk Kitchen Forum

All over pinterest I see people re-pinning these things about whitening your teeth at home. They all have some version of the same thing: mix hydrogen peroxide with baking soda, mix hydrogen peroxide with mouthwash, swish with straight hydrogen peroxide (!!!)... isn't that crazy? I mean, I get that most commercial whiteners contain some amount of hydrogen peroxide to whiten (right?), but isn't mixing it up at home and applying it to your teeth dangerous? I feel like there are probably a lot of people out there doing some real damage to their teeth, but maybe I'm just paranoid?

So, dental experts, enlighten me!

I'd like to know this, too!! I've seen a couple that are make a paste with baking soda and hydrogen peroxide.

I've been curious as well. The craziest one I've seen lately is hydrogen peroxide + lemon juice. They did say to only do it once a month, but still!

WOW! That seems like it'd be really bad for your enamel.

My science teacher in fifth grade told us that was the best thing to swish with!

I don't deal with tooth bleaching much. In my limited pubmed search, I saw articles referencing hydrogen peroxide rinses being irritating to the mucosa and possibly carcinogenic. Didn't read them though. Maybe I will get to it later. Most of my patients can't rinse and spit any type of mouthwash due to disabilities, so it is pretty much a non-issue in my practice. I wouldn't do it!

Thanks for chiming in! It just seems like such a bad idea to me, but maybe I'll research it a little more before I start telling my friends that I think they're crazy for considering it.

The internet, predictably, says there may be problems or there may not be. http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellnes ... -teeth.htm

My dental hygienest told me to swish with straight peroxide occasionally (not as an every day thing). Of course she was trying to sell me on bleaching at the time.

Hmm. I've never used it for whitening, but I sometimes use a peroxide mouth rinse when I've got bad canker sores. I swish a mixture of half peroxide and half water for as long as I can stand it (about a minute or so). I don't think it really changes the color of my teeth, but I'm also not particularly interested in trying to whiten my teeth, so I don't pay much attention to my exact tooth color. I don't think the occasional peroxide rinse has done me any harm either, but I guess I should probably check with my dentist about this.

I thought everyone in America had the greatest teeth? And everyone in 'Britain' had the worst? Everything I know about teeth is off the telly-box. Just gargle with bleach.

If your teeth aren't visible in the dark, they're not American enough!

My mom is a dental assistant and tells me that all at-home whitening products are basically abrasive/corrosive and will harm your teeth. Not sure how alarmist she's being, but there's one opinion for you.

My teeth are totally yellow probably because I've been drinking coffee constantly since I was a baby but considering that I recently had to have filling material put on the front of one of my teeth because the enamel wore completely off, there's probably no real way for me to whiten safely huh? I don't think I really care but I do wonder sometimes.

one of my front teeth is fake (thanks to my hardass biker injury) so i also can't do any whitening. in a few years the fake tooth will have to be redone, and i might do bleaching and get the new tooth done lighter, but other than that my teeth won't match up.
actually, considering how much tea, coffee, red wine and nicotene have passed through these teeth it's amazing they aren't dark brown.

I have sensitive teeth and stay away from whitening toothpastes and whatnot because I find they made my teeth even more sensitive than they already are.

don't do it! according to danish dentists it is really really bad for your teeth. apparently it makes the enamel porous.

"Danish dentists" has a nice ring to it.

Geez, I'm learning too much today about my teeth. I totally make a diluted peroxide and alcohol mouthwash, with a dash of myrrh extract.

I don't really use a lot though, mostly just splash it on my toothbrush. The times I've used peroxide as a mouthwash full strength it felt really bad so I diulte it quite a bit (like 1 part alc, 2 parts peroxide and 3 parts water).

the bottle of hydrogen peroxide that I have in my medicine cabinet says one of its uses is for an antiseptic mouthwash, doesn't say anything about whitening though. I use it for sore ears, never used it for a sore mouth though.