Living legend Linda Greenwall talks to us about the controversial topic of teeth whitening for people under 18.
Given that teeth whitening is an integral part of regular dentistry, it’s time to consider whether teeth whitening should be allowed for people under the age of 18. And if so, should it only apply in certain cases? Read on as Dr. Payman Langroudi, Clinical Director at Enlighten Smiles, and the legendary Dr. Linda Greenwall discuss.
Dr. Payman Langroudi: Tell me about when you first got into whitening, because young dentists these days take whitening completely for granted, but when I got into it, it was around 2000, and I think you were already an expert at that point. You had already written your first book. How did you get into whitening? How did you get in touch with Van Hayward and all that? How did it all come about?
Dr. Linda Greenwall: I was doing a research study. I was in the library, looking through some magazines, and I saw the cover of Quintessence. Quintessence covered Van Hayward's article, which had a picture of the top teeth being white and the bottom teeth being yellow. I looked at it and said, "How can this be? What does this mean? What's going on?" So I read the article about whitening and I went to my professor and I said, maybe I should look into this.
He took one look and said, "Okay, go girl, do it." So I got going. to start the research study and at that time there was very little evidence about whitening. So the first thing we wanted to find out is does it really work? Is it valid? Is it authentic? Is it safe? Those were the key things.
“Have the audacity to reach out to those you admire. Go learn from them and continue your quest for knowledge.”
I looked at all the studies, all the research, all the evidence on whitening, and it was a fascinating subject because it was basically new. It had been done for 200 years. It was super popular in the 1860s with power whitening. But there had been no updates on it.
I looked at everything, every single thing that came up. In those years, it wasn't a lot, but we wanted to understand the mechanisms. And then we discovered that there were some basic ways that it worked.
I contacted Van Hayward. I think you should have the audacity to date whoever is the best at what you want to do.
Have the nerve to call him. Go to him. Go and learn from him and continue your quest for knowledge. This is authentic knowledge. Now there's all this fake news, so you have to be very discerning as a scientist about what's valid? What's correct?
Now it's 1993, I'm in my office, doing strong whitening. I spent $5,000 on the light and I'm not really sure, I thought it was just me, but I can't see anything happening. So I would go to these conferences on bleaching and I would ask the lecturers, "Seriously, what's really going on? Because I don't see much going on." And then they would quietly tell me the truth, that they don't see much either. But in the lecture they would give me a whole story. So I would try to figure out who was right? And what was the story? Which continued the search and then I discovered the whole legal aspect.
At this point I had been talking about whitening for a long time. Sir Paul Beresford heard me speak at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and said, "Linda, I really want to help you. We need to make some changes," so we founded the British Teeth Whitening Society in 2008 to lobby for change and for teeth whitening to be part of regular dentistry, but especially so that dentists can practice legally, safely and with the patient's best interests in mind.
Dr. Payman Langroudi: And you did it in 4 years, it was 2012 when it really happened.
Dr. Linda Greenwall: But there is still the problem of those under eighteen.
“"If the way their teeth look is impacting a child and it's in the child's best interest, or if they're being bullied at school, then whitening is absolutely the right thing to do."”
We are quite advanced in our education process regarding whitening and aesthetic treatments and the like. But the current concern about under-18 whitening isn't a problem at all. It's just a classification thing.. It's just that when they made the change to the law, they didn't think they could change two laws. So they kept it simple. But there's no reason why it shouldn't be that way. From a clinical point of view, it is perfectly safe.
And that's why we're organizing the conference on November 15. We're going to lobby to change the law and we have an action plan ready.
Dr. Payman Langroudi: So, in the situation we find ourselves in today, July 2019, if a dentist has a child patient who has a non-vitalized tooth, or if a dentist has a child patient who has particularly dark teeth that they are being bullied for, should or shouldn't they whiten their teeth today?
Dr. Linda Greenwall: It goes back very clearly to the ruling or the guidelines of the General Dental Council. The General Dental Council said: “If whitening is for the treatment of a disease, then it can be undertaken.”.
The main thing is the impact on the child. If it has an impact on the child and it is in their best interests or if they are being bullied at school then it is absolutely right to do it. It is not just a random thing because a child wants to have the same teeth as someone on Love Island. Now the problem we have is that there are a lot of new diseases in the last 20 years.
“We can treat pediatric patients in terms of minimally invasive aesthetics, which makes a huge difference in their lives.”
Dr. Linda Greenwall: There are new diseases and the environment we live in that cause toxicity on children's teeth, which is reflected as white spots on the teeth. There is a 25 to 40% increase in the number of children's teeth erupting with white spots.
Many of these children who have white spots actually have MIH (Molar incisor hypomineralisation), which is a disease and causes extreme sensitivity.
So, it has to be in the best interest of the patient. Especially when kids are out of elementary school and about to go to high school, they want to change their appearance. We're treating a lot of these kids right now. They have severe discoloration, browns, orange/yellow marks, white discolorations at this point, and we're treating them so that when they go to high school in September, it's not a problem for them.
And the thing about whitening and these minimally invasive treatments is that they're so simple to treat.
The remaining aspect is the mental health aspect, which is much more difficult. We can't treat that aspect, but we can treat them in terms of minimally invasive aesthetics, which makes a big difference in their lives.
What do you think about teeth whitening for people under 18? Let us know in the comments below and stay tuned for part two.
Next time we will discuss with her why whitening may be one of the neglected disciplines of dentistry.
Don't want to wait for part two? Then listen to the entire podcast here.
Source: enlightensmiles.com
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