Here’s some news to harsh your yellow.
Experts at Rikfkin Dental, which serves the Yorktown Heights and Carmel areas of New York, have taken to TikTok to warn patients that whitening toothpaste may make their chompers more likely to stain and chip.
Spilling the tea on teeth, the clip cautions folks that “whitening toothpastes do NOT actually whiten your teeth.”
The post suggests the pearly pastes “remove external stains by scrubbing away layers of enamel, which can make your teeth look whiter at first.”
However, they caution, the benefits are brief, saying, “Over time, this leads to thinner, more yellow and sensitive teeth.”
Unsurprisingly, they recommend in-office whitening procedures to manage sensitivity and guarantee lasting results.
In addition to warning patients about the dangers of at-home whitening, the Rifkin team has posted other videos on proper flossing and how a dentist accidentally invented acrylic nails.
TikTok has been a hotbed — or open mouth — of dental hacks, with users sharing concerning methods to get a whiter, brighter smile, including the startling use of a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.
“The Magic Eraser wears down a stained layer of enamel with a highly abrasive surface, and while this may cause teeth to appear initially whiter in a short TikTok video, the long-term consequences of wearing down enamel can result in discolored, sensitive and in rare cases, cracked or chipped teeth,” Australian dental surgeon Dr. Heath Fraser warned.
Another dangerous method? Applying hydrogen peroxide directly to teeth, which Fraser said posed a serious risk to the long-term health of the teeth.
“Using high concentrations of hydrogen peroxide on your teeth and gums poses an irreversible risk to the health of your teeth and can lead to tooth sensitivity, irritated gums and lips,” Fraser revealed.
He admits that while dentists commonly employ hydrogen peroxide as a bleaching agent, “the concentration and application is much safer when administered by a professional. Having whiter teeth does not necessarily correlate to healthy teeth.”
Other TikTok users swear by raw charcoal as a whitening tool, posting their dramatic before and after footage.
However, Frasier stressed that the approach is also problematic.
“Charcoal is an incredibly abrasive surface that can cause a yellow appearance and sensitivity in the long run. Ironically, while initial results may reveal whiter teeth, using highly abrasive surfaces against teeth will wear down enamel and expose the yellow dentine underneath, causing them to permanently appear more yellow.”
