Dental News - Tooth whitening products may harm dentin tissue

Dental Tribune International

Tue. 16. April 2019

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ORLANDO, Fla., U.S.: In three new studies, researchers have recently found that hydrogen peroxide, even at the concentration used in over-the-counter whitening strips, can damage protein-rich dentin tissue, and collagen and noncollagen proteins in particular. The research team is currently planning to further characterize the protein fragments released when collagen is treated with hydrogen peroxide and determine whether hydrogen peroxide has the same impact on other proteins in the teeth.

While most studies of whitening strips focused on tooth enamel, which contains very little protein, the current studies focused on dentin, which contains high levels of protein, most of which is collagen. Previous work has shown that hydrogen peroxide can penetrate the enamel and dentin, and that collagen in the dentin layer decreased when teeth were treated with whitening strips. “We sought to further characterize what the hydrogen peroxide was doing to collagen,” said Dr. Kelly A. Keenan, Associate Professor of Chemistry and of Biochemistry/Molecular Biology at Stockton University School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. “We used entire teeth for the studies and focused on the impact hydrogen peroxide has on the proteins.”

In the new study, the researchers demonstrated that the major protein in the dentin is converted to smaller fragments when treated with hydrogen peroxide. In additional experiments, they treated pure collagen with hydrogen peroxide and then analyzed the protein using a gel electrophoresis laboratory method that allows the protein to be visualized.

“Our results showed that treatment with hydrogen peroxide concentrations similar to those found in whitening strips is enough to make the original collagen protein disappear, which is presumably due to the formation of many smaller fragments,” Keenan added.

The researchers specified that their experiments did not address whether collagen and other proteins in the teeth can be regenerated. Therefore, it is unclear whether the tooth damage is permanent.

The study abstracts (abstracts one, two & three) were presented at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology’s annual meeting, which took place on April 6–9 in Orlando.

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