Don't go overboard in quest for whiter teeth

Don't go overboard in quest for whiter teeth
July 22, 2008
By Melissa Heckscher | Los Angeles Daily News
chicagotribune.com

Flip open any magazine, turn on the television or head to the movies. You'll see them everywhere.

Dazzling smiles. Gleaming white teeth. Perfect dentistry.

It could give a person a complex.

And some experts say that's exactly what's happening.

"Many people now have teeth that are whiter than the normal color scale we used to use many years ago," said Dr. Kimberly Harms, a consumer adviser for the American Dental Association. "We now have many people whose teeth are whiter than the [official] tooth color scale."

Unnatural
Calling it "bleachorexia," dentists say more and more people are coming in with unrealistic expectations for their teeth, wanting pearly whites that are several shades lighter than what's natural.

"To a degree, what is happening is that whiter teeth are the standard," said Dr. Kevin Frawley, a dentist at Beverly Hills Dentistry in Beverly Hills, Calif.

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