title: The pH of tooth-whitening products.
abstract: Tooth whitening products may be in contact with intraoral structures for several hours or they may be used daily to whiten the teeth. Consequently, these products should have a relatively neutral pH to minimize potential damage. This study measured the pH of 26 commercially available tooth-whitening products. The pH of the different whitening products ranged from 3.67 (highly acidic) to 11.13 (highly basic). The dentist-supervised home-bleaching products had a mean pH of 6.48 (range 5.66 to 7.35). The over-the-counter whitening products had a mean pH of 8.22 (range 5.09 to 11.13), and the whitening toothpastes had a mean pH of 6.83 (range 4.22 to 8.35). The 3 in-office bleaching products had a pH between 3.67 and 6.53. One-way ANOVA showed that there was a significant difference between the 4 product categories. The most basic pH of all the products tested was 11.13 for the whitening gel of Natural White-Rapid White. The most acidic pH of all products tested was 3.67 for Opalescence Xtra 35% hydrogen peroxide in-office bleach. The Least-Squares-Means test showed that the over-the-counter category had a pH significantly different from the other categories (p < 0.05).
authors.affiliation: Department of Dental Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry, Dalhousie University, Halifax. rbprice@is.dal.ca
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Price
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sedarous
authors.forename: G S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Hiltz
mesh_terms: D000077463:Carbamide Peroxide; D003742:Dental Devices, Home Care; D004338:Drug Combinations; D006801:Humans; D006861:Hydrogen Peroxide / Q000737:chemistry; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D004366:Nonprescription Drugs / Q000737:chemistry; D010545:Peroxides / Q000737:chemistry*; D014073:Tooth Bleaching; D014100:Toothpastes / Q000737:chemistry; D014508:Urea / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D004338:Drug Combinations; D004366:Nonprescription Drugs; D010545:Peroxides; D014100:Toothpastes; D000077463:Carbamide Peroxide; D014508:Urea; D006861:Hydrogen Peroxide