I have been using Crest Whitestrips for a while now. It was going fine until this past week. Every once in a while I get this horribly painful zing. It lasts about 15-20 seconds, but almost floors me. It is right where I had some dental bonding done to repair a chipped tooth about 11 years ago. Is it possible that the teeth whitening is weakening the bonding? I’ve stopped whitening for now. Any advice you can provide will be most appreciated.
Karyn
Dear Karyn,
Teeth Bleaching Trays
Teeth whitening is not known to damage any dental bonding. Plus, if you are using Crest Whitestrips, that is significantly less strong than the whitening gel a dentist would use. When the bond to a repair is weakened or old, the repair for the chip will just fall off. There are a couple of possibilities here. One is that your dental bonding has reached its age limit and needs to be replaced. Another is that you have a sensitive area where there was once some composite bonding, but that has worn down.
The solution is either to replace the dental bonding all together or to have your dentist seal that sensitive area. You’ve already paused your whitening, which was smart. Keep it paused until you have this repaired.
If you want to whiten your teeth faster and in a more safe manner, you should consider having your dentist make you a set of teeth bleaching trays, such as the one pictured above. There have been cases of patients needing a root canal treatment after using DIY kits.
One thing to be aware of is that teeth whitening will not whiten the dental bonding you have. My advice would be just to have your dentist repair the sensitive area, whiten your teeth to the level of whitening you want, then replace the chip repair so it can match your new color.
This blog is brought to you by Lexington, KY Dentist Dr. John Weaver.