Effect of over-the-counter teeth whitening products available on an e-market portal: an in-vitro study

Abstract Objectives: This study aimed to compile and evaluate over-the-counter (OTC) toothwhitening products from a prominent e-marketplace, assessing their bleaching effectiveness and impact on enamel. Methodology: Thirty-eight intact tooth sections were randomly divided into three groups: Group I, the positive control, was treated with a dentist-prescribed bleaching agent (DPA) (Opalescence, Ultradent, USA); Groups II and III were treated with the lowest-rated (LRA) and highest-rated (HRA) e-market bleaching agents, respectively. Ten samples per group were subjected to spectrophotometric analysis for bleaching efficacy, ten for postbleaching microhardness, and two per group for morphological evaluation through scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Statistical analyses included one-way ANOVA, post hoc tests, and Student’s t tests, maintaining a significance level of P <0.05. Results: The e-commerce search revealed 15 e-market products out of which most of them lacked usage instructions and comprehensive composition information. DPA exhibited superior tooth whitening, in contrast with the poorly rated online agent, which showed asignificantly lower degree of color change (P=0.007). Microhardness was significantly lower in the LRA treatment group (14.2%) than in the control and HRA treatment groups (8.84% and 7.26%, respectively) (P >0.05). Furthermore, LRA caused severe topographical alterations to the enamel. Conclusion: e-portal OTC teeth whitening products lackvital information, while dentist-prescribed products outperform LRA products in terms of efficacy and enamel preservation. Clinical relevance: Patients’ inclination toward easily accessible online products, particularly from platforms such asAmazon, may result in overuse and consequential deleterious effects on dental tissues.