Baton Rouge Dentist

Can a Bleaching Kit Cause Pain?

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Hi,

My teeth are in generally good condition, and I have some old bonding on a front tooth to cover a chip. I’ve been using an at-home bleaching kit for the past few weeks, and I’ve been liking the results so far. However, the last time I used it, I felt a sharp pain on my front tooth for several seconds. Is this pain from the bonding, or from the bleaching kit? Or is it both?

Thank you,

Minerva, from Hazard, Nebraska.

 

Hi Minerva,

Thank you for your message. While you’ve had good results so far with the whitening kit, it’s important to use them at the direction of a dentist. Dentists can send you home with custom bleaching trays, which are stronger than over-the-counter kits. Under their supervision, they can monitor you for any pain or sensitivities. Let your dentist know about the pain you’re feeling, and they can coat it with something to eliminate the source of the sensitivity at your next appointment. However, you should stop bleaching for the time being until you can get the pain under control.

This type of pain you’re feeling is common, caused by placing bleaching gel on a sensitive part of the tooth. Since the tooth has been repaired after an injury, that could be why. Some of the bonding agent may have come off prior to the whitening.

Bleaching gel is not known to weaken bonding on teeth. If it did, your entire piece of bonding over the tooth would have fallen off too, and you’d be feeling a different type of pain.

This blog is brought to you Baton Rouge tooth whitening provider, Dr. Ryan P. Perry. Dr. Perry offers in-office and at-home tooth whitening through the Core system.

Why is my teeth whitening causing me pain?

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I have been whitening my teeth, using an at-home system, for a couple of weeks now and have had no problems. However, during my whitening session yesterday, I experienced an intense pain for about half of a minute in my front tooth. This tooth has a dental bond that was chipped and corrected over a decade ago. Do you think the pain is any indication that the dental bond needs replaced? Or, is there any chance that the whitening I’ve been doing is causing the bond to lose its strength? I’m worried that it could be both.

Thank you,
Lindsay

Dear Lindsay,
It is unlikely that the bleaching would cause the bond on your tooth to weaken. The bleaching gel has no history of weakening bonds such as this. In addition, if the bond were beginning to lose its strength, the repair, which you mentioned having done to to the chip in the bond, would likely fall off and not just cause pain.


The pain you mentioned experiencing can be attributed to the bleaching gel applied to a part of the tooth which is sensitive. If the tooth has been chipped and repaired, it’s possible that the part which is sensitive was previously covered by a bonding agent that is no longer there.

This is a good reminder that teeth whitening is best done under the supervision of a dentist and hopefully this is the case with you. You should make your dentist aware of the pain you’ve been experiencing. He or she should be able to determine the cause of the problem. If there is a sensitive part to the tooth, something can be applied to address the sensitivity, allowing you to move forward with your current bleaching treatment. It is important that you address this prior to any more bleaching.

This blog post is brought to you by Baton Rouge teeth whitening dentist, Dr. Ryan Perry.