Why dentists alone should administer teeth whitening

A woman added teeth whitening services in her chic salon thinking that it would be a firstrate addition to her posh lineup of eyelash extensions, custom makeup and even faux tattoo services. But after an Alabama Board of Dental Examiners inspector accused her of practicing illegal dentistry, she had to stop. Her unending lawsuit with the state has waded into the murky area of controlling teeth whitening products that are ever more offered in settings beyond dental clinics like mall stores and salons.

Those from salons accuse dentists of trying to brush them out of a lucrative niche when dentists retort that this is a very serious health and safety thing. She declares that as an entrepreneur she only tried to beef up her services with this new service. The lady while blow drying a customer's freshly cut hair opened up how frustrated she felt that even before she had it going, she was already being threatened that they will shut her down. This is very much a cosmetic procedure and for her, they are on the right side of the law definitely.

It is almost impossible to determine whether those ultraviolet lights or trays are sanitary or safe, states a dentist for 43 years and now the American Dental Association's consumer adviser and spokesman. The whitening is sometimes facilitated by people wearing white coats who hand the trays to customers to put into their own mouths or adjust the lights over their teeth in some salons today. This makes the ADA fear that clients will believe that these salon people are actually health care experts. The level of disinfection and sterilization is something we are not privy about. Something unregulated is what you are dealing with.

Many of the same products are available in stores for customers to use on themselves at home. All we know is that this certainly boils down into such a consumer rights issue as these people have the right to choose the mode of whitening for their teeth just as long as it is in a safe and hygienic way. Whitening with bleaching trays and ultraviolet light at a salon or mall would cost a hundred to 200 dollars. A dentist doing this will cost around four hundred dollars or even more.

As soon as a judge from Montgomery established that teeth whitening represent the practice of dentistry and that such should come with authorization, he then ruled in favor of Alabama's dental board in a lawsuit filed by this firm behind the many whitening product supplies in plenty of salons and mall kiosks. There was a declaration from this lawyer from Birmingham, the same one who represented the Alabama board in the case that this very same issue is being addressed in several states now and that includes North Carolina, Wyoming, Louisiana, New Mexico and Minnesota and all of them have reached the same conclusion as the judge from Alabama.

Following a slew of protests about mall booths doing whitening, the Tennessee board of dentistry altered its rules to clarify that whitening can only be performed by licensed dentists or hygienists and dental assistants doing so with the direct supervision of licensed practitioners and this was done last month. It was shared by this salon owner, who was visibly agitated as he discussed the situation that it was disheartening how they never touch neither the customer nor their teeth and yet there are accused of practicing dentistry.

Ohio's dental board permitted this right after they have established that while they do have so many concerns about the freeforall use of the supplies, whitening done by those who are nondentists is still safe just as long as they do not touch the person's mouths and that these consumers are the ones who position the light alone and put the material on their own teeth all by themselves too. The board, in its decision, said that simply providing a consumer with the materials to make a tray and demonstrating to them how to apply materials to their teeth for bleaching purposes is not the practice of dentistry.

It was only in the past four or five years that teeth whitening has taken root but this ADA spokesman recalls that he first saw the practice of whitening being done when he was aboard a cruise about 7 years ago. According to him, the American Dental Association has a policy but that's not cannot be enforced at all. Governments of states and dental boards will have to determine how they will handle this.