Tooth whitening gel: Carbamide Peroxide or Hydrogen Peroxide

The question of whether to use carbamide peroxide tooth whitening gel or hydrogen peroxide gel has been on my mind for a while. I almost made up my mind now. All I need is some solid proof.

Carbamide or Hydrogen peroxide

Bleaching gels come in two kinds:

• Carbamide peroxide gels, and
• Hydrogen peroxide gels.

The tooth whitening gel is truly is the most important component of a good whitening kit. Therefore the selection of a gel is central to a good tooth whitening product.

The choice between carbamide peroxide and hydrogen peroxide gels is not very clear at all.

A few things are certain:

• The active ingredient is hydrogen peroxide in both kinds of gels.
• 1% hydrogen peroxide concentration is about equal to 3.5% carbamide peroxide concentration.
• It is documented that carbamide peroxide is more stable. It can be stored somewhat longer. Although I have seen articles questioning this claim.

But the question remains:

Which one is more effective?

I came across a new piece of information that makes me lean towards Hydrogen Peroxide tooth whitening gels a little more.

Note: I have been unable to confirm this. I am planning to test this theory in the near future. Keep looking at this site for solid proof.

Enough talking! Here is the verdict.

Hydrogen peroxide tooth whitening gels are better because they work faster. In fact, application time for hydrogen peroxide gels appear to be about half is not less.

I don’t know about you but I like faster.

That also explains why dentists use hydrogen peroxide tooth whitening gels in almost all instances.

Hydrogen peroxide gels work faster because:

Hydrogen peroxide gels work in one step:
During tooth whitening, hydrogen peroxide then breaks down to Oxygen and water. Oxygen then does the whitening.

Carbamide peroxide gels work in two steps:
Carbamide peroxide is a more complex chemical than hydrogen peroxide. During the tooth whitening treatment carbamide peroxide breaks down to hydrogen peroxide and some other stuff. Then in step two hydrogen peroxide breaks down to Oxygen and water.

Generally, this extra step wouldn’t be a problem if it was happening fast. According to my sources it takes about twice the time to generate oxygen from carbamide peroxide than it is from hydrogen peroxide.

Note: While it sounds perfectly plausible, I have not been able to confirm this time difference. That is what I am planning to do. So bear with me. I will update this site as soon as I find out something.

Until then, I will leave the decision between the two kinds of tooth whitening gels undecided.

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