Do Whitening Strips Damage Tooth Enamel?

Feeling confident in your smile is essential, whether you have a celebration to attend, an interview to conduct or a photoshoot coming up. A bright smile is so highly valued that Americans have spent over a billion dollars on whitening strips and other teeth whitening products. 

Do whitening strips work, though? And, more importantly, do whitening strips damage tooth enamel? While they do offer a quick solution to your teeth whitening needs, their use comes with a few harmful side effects, like increased sensitivity and protein weakness.

Do Whitening Strips Damage Enamel?

Yes, whitening strips do damage enamel. Your teeth have three layers — enamel, dentin and connective tissue. The dentin layer has a high protein level, including several collagen proteins. Dentin is critical to supporting and strengthening your enamel. A group of researchers at Stockton University conducted a study to find out what white strips do to these layers.

They treated extracted human teeth with whitening strips and monitored protein levels in the dentin layer to see how the strips impacted them.

Their results concluded that hydrogen peroxide, one of the main ingredients in whitening products like the strips they used, weakened the dentin layer by shrinking proteins. The extracted teeth treated with whitening strips three times experienced more damage, and collagen proteins were reduced to an even smaller size.

Zoom Whitening 

Even if you take the risk of using whitening strips, they can only do so much. If you have crowns, fillings or bridges, whitening strips will not change the color of your teeth.

If you want a safe and effective whitening solution, look into professional tooth whitening services. When you reach out to a dentist for teeth whitening solutions, you can rest assured that your dentist will recommend only the healthiest and results-driven treatments for your smile. 

One solution that we offer at 209 NYC Dental is Zoom Whitening. Zoom whitening is a treatment that involves coating your teeth in a whitening gel. Once the gel is applied, we insert a transparent mouthpiece to keep your lips from covering your teeth.

Then, we place an activation light over the mouthpiece. The light activates the gel and whitens your teeth in only 15 minutes. Most patients see results after one session, though many come back for another session to get even brighter results.

209 NYC Dental Can Help You Feel Confident With Your Smile

Whitening strips offer a quick solution to brightening your smile, but they could cause damage in the long run. If you are looking for a safer way to get great results, reach out to 209 NYC Dental. As the oldest standing dental practice in all of New York, we offer a legacy of upstanding work. 

Our team will treat you with the respect and care you deserve. When you arrive, you will receive a warm welcome and the best advice from one of our highly trained doctors. You can schedule a visit online, complete a contact form or call us at 212-355-2290.