What it says on the tin

The public’s confidence in the effectiveness of whitening toothpastes may have faded somewhat after the Advertising Standards Authority banned the advert for Arm & Hammer’s Advanced Whitening toothpaste. It emerged that 43 per cent of users, during a four week trial, either saw no improvement or were left with darker teeth.

As such, many may be under the false impression that to remove stains caused by drinking tea, coffee, red wine or tobacco, and regain a bright, white smile, they need to resort to costly teeth whitening treatment, harsh acids and abrasives, or home bleaching kits. This isn’t the case.

Whiter teeth

A UK Dental School performed an in-vitro laboratory study, which aimed to measure stain removal and discover how effective various toothpastes were at removing dietary stains from perspex, compared to water.

The assessment involved obtaining stimulated saliva from two volunteers, who had not eaten or drank anything, other than water, for two hours. Approximately 100ml was used for the 10 staining cycles (10/15ml per cycle).