Teeth Whitening Side Effects

What Are The Side Effects Of In-Office Bleaching?

1. Tooth sensitivity to cold and hot foods, drinks or even air. During the bleaching process the nerves inside the teeth may become temporarily irritated by the bleaching agent and heat due to the bleach opening the pores of the teeth as it removes the stains. As a result, patients may notice a temporary increased sensitivity of the teeth to cold, hot, air and sweets. If this occurs, simple over-the-counter pain medications help. There are also professionally dispensed options such as desensitizing gels, fluorides, toothpastes or rinses that can help. In most cases however, this sensitivity will resolve in 24-48 hours.
2. Soft tissue irritation can occur from either the chemical bleach sitting on the gums or from the light used to activate the whitener. During the process the gums and lips are protected, but sometimes the tissue is inadvertently exposed. Any white patches that appear on the gums from the chemical whitener will go away within hours. Any sores on the lip may take longer, but a lip balm will help.
3. Spotty coloring of the teeth may be noticed after whitening because some areas of the same tooth may lighten quicker than other areas. This is oftentimes difficult to predict, but the spotty color will begin to blend again quickly once the whitening procedures are discontinued and no other treatment is needed.