At Guildford Dental, our Surrey dentists advise against teeth whitening for children for a two very important reasons.
Every so often, a concerned parent will ask us about the perceived dark or yellowish colour of their children's newly erupting adult teeth. They wonder if teeth whitening might be an option.
However, for the following reasons, our dentists will not prescribe teeth whitening for children:
1. There's likely not really a problem.
Adult teeth have much more dentin in them than baby teeth do. Dentin, which is the second layer of the teeth just under the enamel, is yellow in colour. This can make the adult teeth look very yellow beside the remaining baby teeth, by contrast.
However, once all the baby teeth have fallen out, the darker colour of the adult teeth will be much less apparent.
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 if teeth whitening will negatively 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 developing teeh.
Instead of risking adverse side effects for children, responsible dentists will only prescribe teeth whitening for teenage or adult patients.