Charcoal Teeth Treatments : Friend or Foe?

If you’re on social media, by now you’ve seen advertisements or viral videos about using a toothpaste or treatment with a charcoal component to help whiten your teeth. These videos claim that using an activated charcoal toothpaste can restore a white brilliance to your teeth… although they aren’t wrong, they aren’t giving you all the facts, either.

These charcoal whitening products are potentially very harmful to your enamel and may cause irreversible damage to your teeth over time.

One way in which toothpastes help to clean plaque from your teeth is by adding very mild abrasives. These abrasives do not cause damage to the enamel of your teeth.
However, activated charcoal is an extremely abrasive substance to your enamel. The effect of brushing with charcoal against your teeth is that little by little, the enamel is worn away. This may eventually lead to a yellow discoloration of the teeth due to the the underlying layer of the tooth, the dentin, becoming more visible through the enamel.
The bottom line is that once the enamel is gone, it cannot come back and more drastic means will have to be taken to give you a white smile again. So although these toothpastes or trending teeth treatments may give you that bright, white smile now, it will take away the chance of you having one later in life.
Dentists suggests to always look for toothpastes that have the seal of the American Dental Association; these products have demonstrated they are not only effective, but safe as well. There are plenty of toothpastes that can help whiten teeth without long-term, irreversible damages.
Looking for that immediate white smile without all the damage? Give us a call at (704) 879-3620 and we can speak with you about our safe & effective teeth whitening options including ‘Philips ZOOM! Whitening’.