The dentists at our Surrey office advise against teeth whitening for children and even teens for a few important reasons.
Once in a while, parents will come to us with concerns about the dark or yellowish colour of their children's newly erupting permanent teeth. They wonder if teeth whitening might be an option.
For these two reasons, our dentists will not prescribe teeth whitening for children:
1. There may not actually be a problem.
Adult teeth have significantly more dentin in them than the baby teeth do. Dentin, the layer just under the enamel, is yellow, and this can make the adult teeth look more yellow than the remaining baby teeth.
In short, it is normal and natural for adult teeth to look more yellow than baby teeth. After all the baby teeth have fallen out, the darker colour of the adult teeth will be much less apparent.
2. We don't have very much data on the impact that teeth whitening products have on developing teeth.
There has not been very mcuh research on how teeth whitening may affect teeth that are not yet finished growing and developing.
For this reason, there simply isn’t a reliable body of evidence and data available that would allow dentists to make an informed decision about whether teeth whitening is safe for children’s teeth.
Rather than risk adverse side effects for children, our dentists only prescribe teeth whitening for patients in the late teen years or adults.
