Effects of three different whitening mouth rinses on the color recovery of stained teeth

Aims|: 

Tooth color is an important factor in smile esthetics. The present study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of three different whitening mouth rinses on color recovery of teeth with surface staining.

Thirty-two bovine incisors were used in this invitro study. First, the teeth were stained by being immersed in a tea solution for 14 days and then randomly assigned to four groups based on the type of mouth rinse used (n=8): C: control (distilled water); ZSW: Zenon Smart White (containing pyrophosphate and triphosphate); PCW: Pasta del Capitano Whitening (containing Plasdone); SWN: Signal White Now (containing Blue Covarine). Colorimetry was carried out using a spectrophotometer at baseline, after staining, and 2, 4, 8, and 12 weeks after immersion in mouth rinses. The data were analyzed with CIELab parameters and ANOVA, repeated measures ANOVA, and Tukey tests (α=0.05).

The mouth rinses decreased tooth staining. The mouth rinses resulted in significant color changes compared to the controls (Ppcw=0.028 and Pzsw=0.002), except for the SWN mouth rinse. The color recovery of the teeth by ZSW mouth rinse, compared to the baseline, was in the clinically acceptable range (ΔE<3.3), and the difference from the control group was borderline (P=0.05).

A relative recovery of tooth colors was only achieved using the ZSW mouth rinse, which contains pyrophosphate and triphosphate compounds.