Irish Dental Association Raises Concerns Over Illegal Tooth Whitening
The Irish Dental Association has raised concerns over illegal tooth whitening services in the UK. Dentists are concerned that businesses are offering illegal whitening services despite changes in legislation.
The IDA spoke out after four whitening businesses were unable to provide detailed information about the products they were using and only one of the businesses provided clients with an examination prior to treatment. The statistics were published in February/March edition of the Journal of the Irish Dental Association.
New legislation introduced by the European Council Directive states that whitening products should not contain more than 6% hydrogen peroxide and products that contain between 0.1% and 6% should be administered by trained dental professionals. Tooth whitening should also only be provided to adult patients and all patients should undergo a clinical examination before treatment.
The Irish Dental Association is due to discuss the issue at a meeting on March 8th. The aim of the new directive is to protect patients by putting a stop to illegal businesses that provide whitening treatment without examinations and potentially use illegal products. Tom Feeney, a member of the IDA, said the directive was in the “interests of patient safety.”
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