Can you use whitening toothpaste when you wear braces?

A whitening toothpaste can do very little to actually whiten teeth – it is basically just a regular toothpaste to keep the teeth clean. It generally contains mild abrasives which remove new and slight surface stains. Your teeth may appear lighter, but the effect is only temporary. Since it is only in contact with your teeth in a very diluted state for less than a minute, it can’t really bleach your teeth and there are no extraordinary results. Actually, you can just use any good fluoride containing toothpaste until all your brackets and wires are removed. A note of caution here is that whitening techniques can lighten the areas exposed, while never touching or altering the section of the tooth protected by the braces.

Whitening toothpastes that contain fluoride fight plaque and tooth decay. In general, they are little more than damage control. Toothpastes with less content of whitening ingredients do not noticeably change the color of your teeth. The whitening effect of the peroxide chemical additions found in whitening toothpaste is considered to be insignificant.

Using toothpaste that has harsh compounds can indeed remove the enamel and make your teeth more sensitive. It can harm the glue that grips the braces on your teeth and whiten around the braces, but when you remove them, your teeth will not be as white where the braces were originally fixed.

In fact, there is no fear of having part of your tooth exposed to the toothpaste being whiter and the part underneath the bracket darker. There is no risk using whitening toothpaste or any other toothpaste – it is not going to change the color of the teeth significantly with or without braces on them.

Once your braces have been removed, feel free to use a whitening toothpaste, unless, of course, your dentist or orthodontist has recommended some other type of toothpaste.

If you are wait until you get your braces off, tooth whitening will be more favorable for you in the long run. It will give a uniform shade to all your teeth. Each individual’s teeth will respond differently. To get the correct guidance, walk into the office of our expert cosmetic dentist to be treated with a professional touch and a dazzling smile.

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