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Gilberto Tostado E, DDS, MS, FICD, FPFA

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Tanda Pearl Teeth Whitening System

I’ve been doing take home teeth whitening but it has been a bit painful on my jaw. I have been told I may have TMJ. This may be why my jaw hurts when I wear it. I recently received an advertisement for Tanda Pearl Teeth Whitening System. This says it can whiten your teeth in just 5 minutes a day. I’m thinking that this would help with my jaw pain. Is this a good option for me? Do you know if it is safe?

Joshua

Dear Joshua,

teeth bleaching trays

 

I am glad you wrote. I looked at the ingredients and there does not seem to be anything different with this than any other over-the-counter teeth whitening. It will whiten your teeth, but it is not going to work any faster than another product. The light does not do anything special. So, you’ll be working with the general principle that affects any teeth whitening system.

While the whitening ingredient does work, there are some things to consider, especially given your situation with your jaw. The big red flag to me is their whitening tray. This system uses a single tray for both your upper and lower teeth. You have to hold it in place by biting down on the tray. Even though, this claims to require less time, I believe it will cause you more jaw pain because you will have to bite down. So, if that is your reason for trying it I would look for something else.

When it comes to over-the-counter whitening, they all have a common failing in the fact that the tray is not custom fit to your bite. This creates a couple of problems. Both of these problems revolve around the fact that the whitening gel is not “trapped” on your teeth. With professional teeth whitening, the trays are made to fit your bite. This keeps the whitening gel where it is supposed to be. This whitens your teeth more effectively. Without having that protection, you are going to have saliva leaking into the trays. This weakens your whitening gel. You will have to whiten for more days or weeks to get the same level of whitening you could have achieved with undiluted gel. You are also going to end up purchasing more kits in order to get the same amount of whitening.

The second issue with this is that while your saliva is leaking in, your gel is leaking out. Not only does this weaken your gel even further, but it puts you at risk of irritation to your gums.

It sounded to me like you are already using professional teeth whitening, but are still experiencing pain. You mentioned that you have been told that you have TMJ Disorder. However, I didn’t hear that you were getting any treatment for that. This may be why you are having the pain. I would go to a dentist with post-doctoral training in TMJ Disorder and ask them to help you figure out the best treatment.

This blog is brought to you by Douglas, AZ Dentist Dr. Gilberto Tostado.

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