OPINION | COSMETIC DENTISTRY | WHITENING TOOTH
CONTINUES TO GROW IN POPULARITY Your smile says a lot about you, so a quick way to improve it should be of interest
to everyone. Peter Charlish reports on the business of tooth whitening, a quick hit in terms of improving appearance and building confidence.
A
PETER CHARLISH Principal Analyst, Informa Business Information
email:
peter.charlish@informa. com
74% of
adults are of the opinion that an
unattractive smile can damage a
personÕs chances for career
82 ❚ success.
CCORDING TO A survey carried out late last year by the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (AACD), the second
most widely performed procedure among dental professionals in the US is the bleaching or whitening of teeth, with 91% of respondents offering this service. This compares with 95% who offer crown and bridge work, and only 54% who offer orthodontic work. Separate research
by the AACD
provides some indication as to why tooth whitening is such a popular procedure. Ninety-six percent of Americans believe that an attractive smile makes a person more appealing to the opposite sex, and 74% of adults are of the opinion that an unattractive smile can damage a personÕs chances for career success. And when asked about the first thing
they notice about someone elseÕs smile, respondentsÕ second most common answer, after the straightness of the teeth, was their whiteness and colour. Furthermore, the most common answers to the question Ôwhat makes a smile unattractiveÕ were discoloured, yellow or stained teeth. There are a number of reasons why the
whiteness of a personÕs teeth may be less than perfect. The deciduous teeth, the ones that appear at about 6 months of age, are typically whiter than the adult teeth that appear later in life, which may explain why white teeth give an appearance of youthfulness. In addition, adult teeth tend to become darker or yellower with age, often as a result of changes in the dentine
March 2012 |
prime-journal.com
just below the tooth surface, and teeth can become stained through the consumption of certain foods, such as coffee or red wine, or through smoking. Lastly, teeth may become discoloured through changes in the enamel ® this can be caused by such factors as exposure to high levels of fluoride, tooth decay, root canal work, or trauma.
A burgeoning market The total value of the market for tooth whitening products and services is considerable.
According to some
estimates, the value of the US over-the-counter (OTC) segment alone is in the region of $1 billion. In the professional segment, AACD members carry out an average of 77 whitening procedures each year, at an average cost of just under $250. With more than 6000 members (not all of whom are dentists, however), the total cost of all the procedures carried out runs to many tens of millions of dollars. Most materials used for tooth bleaching
are based on a peroxide; either hydrogen peroxide or carbamide peroxide (urea peroxide). Hydrogen peroxide is unstable and decomposes to form elemental oxygen, which has bleaching properties, a feature exploited by products designed to remove stains from laundry, as well as tooth-bleaching treatments. Carbamide peroxide is an adduct of urea and hydrogen peroxide (an adduct is a product formed by the combination of two separate molecules), and breaks down in aqueous solution to release hydrogen peroxide (and urea). In addition, products containing chlorine dioxide have recently become
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