Tooth Whitening Kit- dentists' opinion

To my fellow dental colleagues,

I would be interested if anyone has heard of the recent rise of 'cosmetic practitioners' travelling around Ireland offering tooth whitening with a kit and/or 'laser'. The product seems to be offered by <snip>but on closer inspection, the product contains sodium perborate, the inclusion of which is in contravention of the recent EU Directive on tooth whitening products.

Sodium perborate and perboric acid are also regulated as they are considered to be hydrogen peroxide releasing substances, pursuant to the opinion of the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) on sodium perborate and perboric acid, published on 22 June 2010 (see attached).
The conclusion of the SCCS opinion (pages 22 and 23) states the following:
“4. CONCLUSION
(1) Based on the current knowledge on the chemistry, biology and toxicology of sodium perborate and perboric acid, does the SCCS consider that sodium perborate and perboric acid can be considered as "hydrogen peroxide" releasing substances in the sense as the already regulated substances in Annex III, entry 12 of the Cosmetics Directive 76/768/EEC.The SCCS is of the opinion that sodium perborate and perboric acid can be considered as “hydrogen peroxide” releasing substances and thus are covered by the entries 12 of Annex III, of the CosmeticsDirective 76/768/EEC,
(2) If the answer to question 1 is yes, does the SCCS consider that the general restrictions applicable tohydrogen peroxide releasing substances should apply to sodium perborate and perboric acid. The SCCS considers that the general restrictions applicable to hydrogen peroxide releasing substances should apply to sodium perborate and perboric acid. As laid out in opinion
SCCS/1249/09, the substances listed in the Annex I of this mandate are, in addition to entry 12 of Annex III, also covered by entry 1a of Annex III of the Cosmetics Directive 76/768/EEC. The more restrictive of the two entries should apply.”

I would be interested to hear of any others experience and opinion as to whether this company is acting outside regulations in offering a regulated product directly to the public by a non-dental professional.

Big_G

There are loads of these small tooth whitening operations around the place. Until the IMB or the Dental Council wants to shut these guys down they will operate with impugnity selling snake oil such as "blue led light" activated bleach systems and so-called "laser" whitening (no such thing). I'm not really worried, their business model will fail when patients don't see results that last.