Pain with Teeth Whitening

I have been whitening my teeth for about two weeks. Then a tooth started to give me a zing of pain. It happened right where I had a chipped tooth that was repaired with dental bonding. Do you think that the whitening is damaging the bonding and that was has caused the pain? Or maybe the dental bonding is just nearing the end of its life? I’ve stopped whitening for now. I’m hoping you can advise me.

Jayne

Dear Jayne,

I do not think that the bleaching gel is doing anything to the dental bonding. Bleaching is not known to do any damage to any bonding. Plus, if your bonding was damaged, then the repair would likely just fall off. So that is some good news for you. However, the pain does tell me that maybe you are dealing with an exposed part of the tooth where the bonding didn’t quite cover everything or had worn off.

You did not say if you were doing your teeth whitening through a dentist or not, but either way I recommend you see one. They can repair the damaged dental bonding. Then, you will be safe to resume your teeth whitening in a pain free way.

Dental bonding is an advanced dental procedure. You’ll want to make sure that your dentist has the skills to do it in a way that blends in seamlessly with your teeth. If your dentist does not have advanced post-doctoral training it is perfectly acceptable and even common practice to go to a different dentist for your cosmetic work than you do for your general dental work.

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