Oral Health Link to Whole Body Health: A Blog

How to Manage Tooth Sensitivity After Whitening Treatments

19 May 2016

Duane Kelly

The bleaching agents in tooth whitening treatments may leave you with sensitive teeth. While this is typically a temporary discomfort that will start to fix itself after your treatment is done, it can make your life miserable for a while. If your teeth have become more sensitive after bleaching, you can take a few measures to make the sensitivity more manageable until your teeth settle back down again.

Be Careful What You Eat and Drink

If you have sensitive teeth after whitening, you're most likely to run into sensitivity pain if you eat or drink anything at an extreme temperature. Try to avoid very hot or cold food and drinks. Although eating or drinking lukewarm stuff may not be ideal for your taste buds or enjoyment, keeping things warm rather than hot or cold will go a long way to keeping your sensitivity under control. You may also find it handy to avoid very sweet foods – these sometimes make your teeth hurt if they are a little sensitive.

Use a Toothpaste for Sensitive Teeth

It's worth switching to using a toothpaste that is specially designed for people with sensitive teeth until your whitening sensitivity wears off. This kind of toothpaste usually works by blocking the nerves in your teeth that make them sensitive. This may be useful after a bleach-based whitening treatment – bleaching agents may expose your nerves and make them more painful for a while as the bleach works its way into your teeth.

It's also a good idea to be careful how your brush for the first few days after whitening treatments. If you're too gung-ho with your toothbrush, your teeth may hurt more. While it's important to keep your teeth clean, a gentler approach may be useful during this period.

Try Chewing Sugar-Free Gum

There is some evidence that chewing sugar-free gum in the first few days after a teeth whitening treatment can reduce sensitivity. A study of patients who had whitening treatments found that the people who chewed sugar-free gum after whitening had far less sensitivity than the people who didn't chew gum after their treatments.

This may be down to the increase in your saliva flow that chewing gives you. Alternatively, you may simply be distracted from feeling sensitivity while you chew gum. In either case, it may be worth a try if gum makes your teeth less painful.

While sensitivity after whitening usually disappears in time, some people do have longer-term problems. If your teeth remain sensitive a week or so after treatment, and the sensitivity shows no sign that it is getting better, it may be worth going back to your dentist for advice on how to deal with the issue.

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