Craze for Hollywood smile leads to emergency skin grafts for gums burned by teeth bleaching

Craze for Hollywood smile leads to emergency skin grafts for gums burned by teeth bleaching
1st August 2008
By Sophie Goodchild
Daily Mail Online

Patients are having emergency skin grafts for burns caused by botched cosmetic dental treatment.

At least 12 people have been treated at St George's Hospital in Tooting for severe gum damage caused by chemicals used in teeth-whitening.

Experts at the hospital's restorative surgery unit blame a new type of treatment called 'power bleaching' which uses high-strength chemicals.

Dentists have already raised concerns about untrained clinic staff leaving patients' teeth discoloured by teeth-whitening.

Consultant Dr Richard Porter said one man he treated had his teeth whitened two days before his wedding but was unable to talk because his gums were so badly burned.

He added: 'This is going to become increasingly frequent unless the industry is better regulated. Where you have tissue loss it does not grow back, especially if people have thin gums, so you have to take a graft of connective tissue from the palate. The concern is that the bleach being used is the same as high-strength bleach.'

© 2008 Associated Newspapers Ltd

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