“Can you use hydrogen peroxide to whiten your teeth?”

Hello,

Hydrogen peroxide is one of the most common whitening agents (zoom and opalescence) that dentists and tooth pastes use for whitening teeth. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) will enter the enamel of and remove some of the staining on teeth; however, it is also toxic to the soft tissues (lips, gums, and cheeks) in people's mouths. When the dentist uses a stronger concentration of hydrogen peroxide, he/she isolates the patients cheeks, lips, tongue, and gums (gingiva). Use of hydrogen peroxide at home to whiten teeth needs to have a longer contact time (time on the teeth) and this irritates the soft tissues. It is also worth noting that while there have not been any studies to prove this; but cancer is caused by damaged cells and hydrogen peroxide is a free radical which can cause damage to cells. Just some food for thought. Hope this helps

My best to you,

William F. Scott IV, DMD

That's an old myth. It may help a little, but you would want to use professionally dispensed products to help get better results.

Dr. Khaja Mohsinuddin

Yes a lot of whitening products do have peroxide in them but please do not use over the counter provide solutions as those can have serious health risks. Either go to a dentist or use whitening gels/ toothpastes/ and other verified whitening products.

I strongly recommend you buy trusted consumer products from drug stores specifically for dental whitening.

Hi, yes hydrogen peroxide is the active ingredient in most at home and in-office whitening products such as whitening strips, whitening trays, whitening mouthwash, a select few whitening toothpastes and in-office whitening gel placed directly on teeth. Here is a comparison chart on the following link of several whitening brands that I have listed on my website. https://www.perfecttensmile.com/comparison