The teeth whitening industry has been enjoying a great boom since the Internet became so prevalent in our lives, as nowadays people can easily go online and buy at-home kits for bleaching their teeth. And while there definitely are some products out there that can deliver good results and do so safely, there are various less than scrupulous manufacturers who advertise their products incorrectly, or even produce them using unsafe methods.
In a recent example of this, Trading Standards officers in London, UK, seized a batch of teeth whitening kits valued at more than £500,000, citing concerns about the safety of the products. The raid came as a result of discovering that the kits were being produced with dangerous levels of hydrogen peroxide (the main active ingredient in many teeth whitening kits), as much as sixty times over the legal dose.
While hydrogen peroxide is relatively safe when used in small doses, such as the ones present in (safe) teeth whitening kits, it can pose a very real hazard to a person’s health in larger doses, and the damage it causes can sometimes be permanent if the teeth/skin are exposed to the substance for too long.
According to dentists, it’s possible to even get blisters on the mouth as a result of using this product, and the presence of these kits on the market was a huge danger to the health of British citizens. It’s not known if any of the kits were already sold to customers, or if the raid managed to seize the product before it had reached any stores (the kits were reportedly taken from a house), but if some of those kits were already purchased and used, this could make the situation even more problematic.
It’s no wonder that people are jumping to these shady home-made solutions in the end, as a professional teeth whitening procedure can cost as much as £700 at a good dentist. Compared to the cost of buying an at-home kit, it’s obvious why some people would choose the latter option, even when they’re warned about the potential safety hazards associated with it.
Thankfully, authorities have been paying a lot more attention to this type of product lately, and they have been examining the contents of “DIY” teeth bleaching kits, trying to stop potentially harmful ones like this from reaching the market. In the end, there will probably be a need for tighter regulation if teeth whitening kits are to continue being sold freely and over the counter. Pretty much no countries in the world regulate the selling of this product, and this situation will probably have to change in the near future, according to experts. Raids like this one may very well be the first step towards that.