Emeritus Professor Laurie Walsh from UQ's School of Dentistry was mentioned in The Australian’s article about the risks associated with using at home teeth whitening kits.
Over a fifth of Australians, 22 per cent, have whitened their teeth, an eight per cent jump since data was first recorded in 2017, according to a survey conducted for the Australian Dental Association.
But the number of whitening treatments conducted by dentists has fallen, with only one in three adults whitening their teeth under their supervision, according to the survey of 25,000 Australian adults last November and December
Further, claims by some online and over-the-counter products using all natural ingredients did not stand up to scrutiny, with some containing sodium chlorite, an industrial chemical used in swimming pool cleaning.
In some cases, a blue light was sold with peroxide whitening gels to speed up the tooth whitening process.
But some of these gels did not include chemicals these lights would work on, making them essentially a gimmick, according to the University of Queensland’s Emeritus Professor Laurie Walsh.
