Ms. Patricia Boateng, a Physician Assistant Dental, at the Prampram Polyclinic has cautioned the public against using chemicals to whiten the teeth as it can cause teeth sensitivity.
Ms Boateng speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview at Prampram said dental health officials do not recommend teeth whitening as it was seen as teeth bleaching which removed the protective mechanism.
Liking teeth whitening to skin bleaching, she stressed that “the way the skin reacts after bleaching, it is the same way with the teeth, when you whiten the teeth, which is teeth bleaching, initially it will look white for you.
“People will admire it but as time goes on, you will get the effect of the whitening, because you have removed the protective mechanism from it so you will feel this sensitivity.”
She added that it could also affecting eating of food and drinking of water, whether hot or cold, and even talking would be difficult because of the air.
“When it gets to that stage there is nothing we can do for you, you can buy different kinds of toothpaste, and drugs at that time but the effect will never leave you,” she cautioned.
The Physician Assistant Dental explained that a tooth was considered to be clean when it was free from any brownish, and cavity, adding that the whiteness of the teeth was based on the calcium composition content of one’s teeth.
She added that when the calcium composition content is higher it gives brighter teeth and vice-versa therefore people should not compare the colour of their teeth to others and use it as a basis to use chemicals to bleach the teeth.
