TikTok is full of videos demonstrating DIY hacks, from bike tricks to cooking tips. Meanwhile, a growing number of TikTok videos offer tips to help you save money and time at the dentist. But do they deliver?
Here are five popular dental TikTok trends and why you can watch out for them.
1. Homemade whitening solutions
Many TikTok videos provide tips on teeth whitening. These include tutorials on making your own whitening toothpaste using ingredients such as hydrogen peroxide, a common household bleach and baking soda (sodium bicarbonate).
In This videoinfluencer says:
And then you’re going to drop in your hydrogen peroxide. There’s really no metric to it.
But hydrogen peroxide in high doses it is poisonous if swallowed and can burn your gums, mouth and throat and corrode your teeth.
High doses of hydrogen peroxide can penetrate holes or tiny cracks in your teeth to inflame or destroy the nerves and blood vessels in the teeth, which can cause pain and even nerve death. This is why dentists they are bound by rules when we offer whitening treatments.
Sodium bicarbonate and hydrogen peroxide are between the ingredients in commercially available whitening toothpastes. While these commercial products can be effective When removing surface stains, their formulations are carefully processed to preserve them your smile safe.
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2. Oil pulling
Oil pulling involves swishing a tablespoon of sesame oil or coconut oil in your mouth for up to 20 minutes at a time. It has its roots in Ayurvedic medicine, a traditional medical practice originating in the Indian subcontinent.
While oil pulling should be followed by brushing and flossing, I have had patients believe that oil pulling replaces these practices.
Has been some research about the potential of oil sliding to treat gingivitis or other oral diseases. But overall, there is evidence to support the effectiveness of oil pulling low certainty.
For example, studies testing the effectiveness of the oil have been conducted on school-aged children and people without dental problems, and often measure plaque growth over a period of a few days to two weeks.
Read more: What happens to teeth as you grow older? And how can you extend the life of your smile?
Chlorhexidine is an ingredient found in some commercially available mouthwashes. In one study, subjects who rinsed with chlorhexidine mouthwash (30 seconds twice a day) developed less plaque on their teeth compared to those who oil pulled for eight to 10 minutes.
Ultimately, it’s unlikely that you’ll experience a measurable gain to your oral health by adding oil pulling to your daily routine. If you are poor on time, you better focus brushing your teeth and gums well parallel to the thread.
3. Use rubber bands to fix gaps
This TikTok influencer shows his followers that he closed the gaps between his front teeth in a week using cheap clear rubber bands.
But this person may be one of the lucky few who successfully uses bands to close a gap in their teeth without any mishaps. The front teeth are slippery and narrow near the gums into conical shaped roots. This can cause the bands in the gums to surround the roots of the teeth to slip and disappear, which can cause infections and pain.
If this happens, you may need surgery that involves cutting your gums to remove the strips. If the belts have caused infection, it can they lose the affected teeth. Therefore, it is best to leave this type of work to a dentist trained in orthodontics.
4. Filing or cutting the teeth to shape them
My teeth hurt just looking at it This video.
Cutting or filing teeth unnecessarily can expose the second, more sensitive layer of tooth, called dentin, or possibly the nerve and blood vessels inside the tooth. People who undergo this type of procedure can experience anything from sensitive teeth to a severe toothache that requires root canal treatment or tooth extraction.
You may notice that the dentist’s drills spray water when you cut to protect your teeth from extreme heat damage. The drill inside This video it is dry without using water to cool the heat generated during cutting.
It may also not be sterile. We like to have everything clean and sterile to prevent contaminated instruments used on a patient from potentially spreading an infection to another person.
It is important that once you cut or file your teeth, it will be gone forever. Unlike our bones, hair or nails, our teeth they do not have the ability to regenerate.
5. DIY fillings
Many people on TikTok demonstrate the filling of cavities (holes) or the replacement of spaces between teeth with a material made of heated molded plastic pellets. DIY fillings can cause a lot of problems – I’ve seen this first hand in my clinic.
While we may make it look simple in dental procedures, the science behind fillers and how we make them stick to the teeth cavity filling is complex.
Filling a cavity with the kind of material made from these beads will be just as effective as using duct tape on sand. Not to mention the cavity will continue to grow underneath without treatment “filled” teeth.
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I know it’s easy to say “see a dentist about that cavity” or “go to an orthodontist to fix that gap in your teeth you don’t like,” but it can be expensive to actually do those things. However, if you end up needing treatment to fix the problems caused at home, it can cost you a lot more.
So what’s the take home message? Stick with funny cat and dog videos on TikTok – they’re safer for your smile.
