At Willowbrook Dental Clinic, our Langley dentists advise against teeth whitening for children for a few important reasons.
Every once in a while, an concerned parent will ask us why their children's newly erupting adult teeth look yellow in colour. They wonder if teeth whitening may be needed. Our answer is always no.
There are two important reasons our dentists will not prescribe teeth whitening for children:
1. There probably isn't really a problem.
The yellowish colour of adult teeth is the result of dentin, which is the second layer of the teeth right under the enamel. Erupting adult teeth have much more dentin in them than baby teeth do, and this can make them look significantly more yellow than the remaining baby teeth.
Once all the baby teeth have fallen out, the darker colour of the adult teeth will be much less obvious.
2. We have very little data on the impact whitening products have on developing teeth.
There just isn’t a reliable body of evidence and data available on this subject, and so we can't make an informed decision about whether teeth whitening is safe for children’s teeth.
Instead of risking adverse effects, responsible dentists typically only prescribe teeth whitening for adults, or people in their late teens.