Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Mar;35(2):423-430.
doi: 10.1111/jerd.12982. Epub 2022 Nov 18.

In vitro assessment of activated charcoal-based dental products

Andrey Gonçalves Emídio  1 , Vitória Fraga Fogaça Melo E Silva  1 , Edgar Pedreiro Ribeiro  1 , Gabriela Torres Zanin  1 , Murilo Baena Lopes  1 , Ricardo Danil Guiraldo  1 , Sandrine Bittencourt Berger  1
Affiliations

In vitro assessment of activated charcoal-based dental products

Andrey Gonçalves Emídio et al. J Esthet Restor Dent. 2023 Mar.

Abstract

Objective: Assess the effects of activated charcoal-based products on whitening and changes on dental enamel surface.

Material and methods: Fifty-two blocks of bovine dental enamel were randomly distributed in four groups (n = 13): brushing with activated charcoal-based powder (PW); brushing with activated charcoal-based dentifrice (AC); brushing with a conventional dentifrice containing 1450 ppm of fluoride (CD); and whitening with 10% carbamide peroxide (CP). Color, microhardness, and surface alteration were analyzed at baseline and after 14 days of treatment. Three samples per group were randomly selected and examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to analyze the morphology.

Results: PW exhibited greater color change for the ΔE00 , ΔWID, Δb* and ΔL* parameters than other groups (p < 0.05). After treatment, microhardness decreased in AC and CP groups (p < 0.05). Also, PW and AC groups showed more surface alteration than CD and CP (p < 0.001). Changes in the morphology of dental enamel were observed by SEM in PW and AC groups.

Conclusion: Activated charcoal-based products showed a lower whitening effect than 10% carbamide peroxide. These products also influenced dental enamel microhardness, resulting in greater surface alteration.

Clinical significance: Activated charcoal-based products promoted minimum whitening effects with significant enamel surface alteration. The 10% carbamide peroxide was more effective for whitening and caused slight enamel surface alteration.

Keywords: activated; charcoal; dental whitening; dentifrice; toothbrushing.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Martin J, Rivas V, Vildósola P, et al. Personality style in patients looking for tooth bleaching and its correlation with treatment satisfaction. Braz Dent J. 2016;27(1):60-65.
    1. Joiner A. The bleaching of teeth: a review of the literature. J Dent. 2006;34(7):412-419.
    1. Karadas MZY. Duymus, In vitro evaluation of the efficacy of different over-the-counter products on tooth whitening. Braz Dent J. 2015;26(4):373-377.
    1. Vaz VTP, Jubilato DP, Oliveira MRM, et al. Whitening toothpaste containing activated charcoal, blue covarine, hydrogen peroxide or microbeads: which one is the most effective? J Appl Oral Sci. 2019;27:e20180051.
    1. Tao D, Sun JN, Wang X, et al. In vitro and clinical evaluation of optical tooth whitening toothpastes. J Dent. 2017;67:S25-S28.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources