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America's long-standing fixation with impossibly white teeth is leading some to develop what dentists refer to as 'bleachorexia.'
According to Los Angeles-based cosmetic dentist Laurence Rifkin, over-bleaching is an all too common practice; one that causes severe and permanent damage by stripping tooth enamel and causing gums to recede.
'Once the enamel has been chemically eroded away, then it’s gone, it’s gone forever,' Mr Rifkin, who has even encountered people rubbing Clorox on their teeth in a desperate bid for a megawatt smile, tells Yahoo News.
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| Painfully white: According to cosmetic dentist Laurence Rifkin, over-bleaching is an all too common practice; one that causes severe and permanent damage by stripping enamel and causing gums to recede | Image Source: dailymail.co.uk |
World Boxing Council champion Mia St. John tells Yahoo that she became so obsessed with over bleaching her teeth, her dentist had to intervene.
'He said my teeth could basically turn to mush just because I was destroying the enamel,' she reports.
Carbamide peroxide, the bleaching agent used in most whitening treatments, can make the teeth brittle and chalky, leading to hypersensitivity.
According to a recent survey conducted by the American Association of Cosmetic Dentistry, 96per cent of adults believes a good smile can make a person more attractive, and 74per cent consider a bad one to be a career disadvantage.
All those questioned said that if they could improve one thing about their smile, it would be whiter teeth.
Which is probably why Americans spend $1.4 billion annually on tooth whitening products, a 300per cent rise since 1996, and why many are ignoring product guidelines and bleaching their teeth more frequently than is recommended.
So how do you know if you're overdoing it with the carbamide peroxide?
Spoiler - if you are exceeding the number of regular treatments advised by your dentist, or with your at-home-whitening products, you probably are.
The main warning signs are excessive sensitivity, gum irritation and translucent blotches appearing on the teeth, Van Haywood, DMD, a professor in the Department of Oral Rehabilitation at the Medical College of Georgia, writes for Wedmd.
'Some people's teeth get more transparent if you continue whitening,' he states. 'You can see right through them and see the dark shadows of your mouth.'
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| Cautionary tale: In one of TV show Friends' most memorable episodes, Ross Geller leaves on his at-home whitening treatment for too long and ends up in quite the predicament | Image Source: dailymail.co.uk |
It should also be remembered that depending on your teeth's natural shade, brightening them up to white-as-snow levels is actually near-impossible, no matter how much you frazzle them with bleach.
Most of the megawatt smiles we see paraded by celebrities from Kim Kardashian and Blake Lively to Brad Pitt and George Clooney are the results of porcelain veneers, not bleach.
Veneers are thin shells of medical-grade ceramic that are attached to the front surfaces of teeth, and will set you back anywhere from $800 to $2,500 per tooth.
New York-based cosmetic dentist Dr Jennifer Jablow, who is thought to have first coined the term 'bleachorexic' in 2005, assures, however, that with caution and realistic expectations, getting your teeth a few shades lighter can be pretty risk-free.
'Bleaching is very effective in moderation, and it's safe in moderation,' she told ABC last year.
'It's when you're bleaching all the time, beyond what is recommended, that's when you run into problems.
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