Charcoal has recently received quite the
hype when it comes to its health benefits, particularly within the oral
healthcare product market. Toothpastes
and mouthwashes have advertised charcoal to be an “effective and natural” method
in teeth whitening and oral hygiene care.
But like most things, are there any drawbacks? Possible benefits? As someone who works as a dental assistant, I
often have to answer these types of questions from patients who want to know
the pros and cons.
And quite frankly, I often find myself
telling patients that despite the praise charcoal has received in other
cosmetic and beauty regimens, it doesn’t measure up in the same way when
talking about teeth. Recent studies have
indicated that “charcoal left a significantly rougher surface of enamel when
compared to a less abrasive toothpaste” (Kalliath, et al., 2018). Evidence suggested that charcoal toothpaste
can be too aggressive and may thin out the enamel (the outer, white layer)
shell of our teeth (Kalliath, et al., 2018)
Over time, the loss in healthy enamel can lead to additional complications
such as tooth sensitivity and improper positioning of the teeth and jaw bones (Johansson,
et al., 2012).
Instead, additional emphasis should be
placed on educating individuals that charcoal toothpaste only seems to remove superficial
staining, as opposed to the more thorough, intrinsic staining that
professional-grade whitening agents such as hydrogen or carbamide peroxide
target to reveal that Hollywood-level smile.
But more importantly, further large-scale studies are needed to constitute
conclusive evidence for the efficacy of charcoal-based dentifrices (Brooks, et
al., 2017).
Overall, the take-home message with
anything in medicine is to carefully evaluate your options, risks, and have
meaningful discussions with your healthcare provider before making a decision
regarding your well-being.
Brooks, J. K. Bashirelahi, N. & Reynolds, M. A. (2017). Charcoal and
charcoal-based dentifrices: a literature review. The
Journal of American Dental Association, 148(9), 661-670. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adaj.2017.05.001
Johansson, A. K., Omar, R., Carlsson, G. E.,
& Johansson, A. (2012). Dental erosion and its growing importance in
clinical practice: from past to present. International journal of dentistry, 2012, 632907. https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/632907
Kalliath, C., Mukunda, A., Pynadath, M.,
Venugopal, V., & Prethweeraj, J. (2018). Comparison between the effect of
commercially available chemical teeth whitening paste and teeth whitening paste
containing ingredients of herbal origin on human enamel. Ayu, 39(2), 113–117. https://doi.org/10.4103/ayu.AYU_82_18
I thought this was a very relevant issue as we are always surrounded by new marketing campaigns of products that we know nothing about. I found a study that further pushes the point that activated charcoal toothpaste does not significantly whiten your teeth in comparison to other products on the market. Compared to a variety of other active ingredients for teeth whitening, activated charcoal had a lower significant difference from the initial brushing cycle to the continuous use brushing cycle (Vaz VTP et al, 2019). There was effective whitening seen, but other ingredients such as blue covarine and hydrogen peroxide had much better results (Vaz VTP et al, 2019). So as you said, we should really be evaluating our options when it comes to new products and their efficacy, especially in regards to something as important as our teeth.
ReplyDeleteSources:
Vaz VTP, Jubilato DP, Oliveira MRM, Bortolatto JF, Floros MC, Dantas AAR, Oliveira Junior OB. Whitening toothpaste containing activated charcoal, blue covarine, hydrogen peroxide or microbeads: which one is the most effective? J Appl Oral Sci. 2019 Jan 14;27:e20180051. doi: 10.1590/1678-7757-2018-0051. PMID: 30673027; PMCID: PMC6438662.
I am very glad I read this as I fell susceptible to the marketing campaigns and use charcoal toothpaste. I haven't noticed much whitening difference and have noticed an increase in sensitivity most likely due to my thinning enamel. In the future I will now use the suggested hydrogen peroxide products.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI think this post was great and very insightful because i've used charcoal toothpaste for a couple of months. As your post said, I stopped utilizing charcoal toothpaste because I felt as if my enamels were getting weaker because I became more sensitive to colder water. I personally hated how the charcoal toothpaste stained my gum and teeth black. As I was following up on some personal research for charcoal tooth paste, I read an article that talked about how manufacturers claim that such charcoal-based products have whitening, remineralization, antimicrobial, and anti-fungal properties of charcoal in such products (Franco, 2020). The interesting part was how the article talked about none of these claims were scientifically proven or backed up, yet people continue to purchase them. Moreover, this post has allowed me to investigate further why I shouldn't use charcoal toothpaste.
ReplyDeleteSource:
Franco MC, Uehara J, Meroni BM, Zuttion GS, Cenci MS. The Effect of a Charcoal-based Powder for Enamel Dental Bleaching. Oper Dent. 2020 Apr 3. doi: 10.2341/19-122-L. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 32243248.