The Conversation: TikToks feature do-it-yourself teeth whitening, fillings prompt dentist’s warning

OPINION

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 video, the influencer says, “And then you’re going to drop your hydrogen peroxide. There’s really no measurement to it.”

But hydrogen peroxide in high doses is poisonous if swallowed and can burn your gums, mouth and throat and corrode your teeth.

High doses of hydrogen peroxide can seep into holes or tiny cracks in your teeth to cause inflammation or damage to the nerves and blood vessels in the teeth, which can cause pain and even nerve death. This is why dentists are bound by rules when we offer whitening treatments.

Sodium bicarbonate and hydrogen peroxide are among the ingredients in commercially available whitening toothpastes. While these commercial products can be effective at removing surface stains, their formulations are carefully designed to keep your smile safe.

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.

There has been some research done on the potential of oil pulling to treat gingivitis or other oral diseases. But overall, the evidence supporting the effectiveness of oil pumping is 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.

Chlorhexidine is an ingredient found in some commercially available mouthwashes. In one study, people who rinsed with chlorhexidine mouthwash (30 seconds twice a day) developed less plaque on their teeth compared to those who rinsed with oil 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’re short on time, you’d better focus on brushing your teeth and gums well while flossing.

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 bands have become infected, you may 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 watching this video.

Cutting or filing teeth unnecessarily can expose the second, more sensitive layer of the 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 dentist’s drills spray water while cutting to protect your teeth from excessive heat damage. The drill in this video is dry with no water used to cool the heat generated during cutting.

It may also not be sterile. We like to keep everything clean and sterile to prevent contaminated tools used on one patient from potentially spreading infection to another person.

It is important that once you cut or file your teeth, it will be gone forever. Unlike bones, hair or nails, our teeth do not have the ability to regrow.

5. DIY fillings

Many people on TikTok demonstrate filling cavities (holes) or replacing gaps between teeth with a material made of heated plastic beads. DIY fillings can cause a lot of problems – I’ve seen this first hand in my clinic.

Although we can make it look simple in dental procedures, the science behind fillings and how we get them to stick to teeth to fill cavities 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 that the cavity will continue to grow under the untreated “filled” teeth.

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.

This article is republished from The conversation. Read it original article.