Beauty trend could cause permanent damage to your teeth

By Rebecca Bartlett

BELLEVILLE – Using activated charcoal on your teeth to remove stains is one of the newest beauty trends floating around the internet and on social media. But what if getting those pearly whites comes at the cost of destroying the enamel on your teeth?

This beauty trend spread quickly through Facebook, Instagram and YouTube with videos of people using charcoal to remove stains from their teeth. Charcoal in general has become a trend with people not only using it on their teeth but taking pills and using charcoal face masks. Charcoal is believed to have properties that help remove toxins from your body, stains from your teeth and unclog your pores.

One Loyalist student says she used charcoal to whiten her teeth as motivation to quit smoking not knowing it could potentially be harmful.

“My teeth aren’t yellow, but everyone wishes they had a whiter smile, and being a smoker didn’t help that. Once I started using Carbon CoCo I instantly noticed a difference,” said Sydney Thibault, a third-year Child and Youth Care Practitioner student.

Thibault says she thinks that using charcoal as a whitener became a huge trend because it looked fun and cool.

“I think it’s more popular because it’s easier to use than putting on white strips and sitting with them in your mouth for long periods of time. It’s quick and it’s simple,” she added.

Thibault said that her dentist was on board with her using charcoal to whiten her teeth and would even prefer charcoal to whitening strips.

Not every dental professional thinks that way though.

Robin McTaggart, a hygienist at Family Dental Centre in Belleville, said she wouldn’t recommend using charcoal on your teeth.

McTaggart said there isn’t enough evidence proving that charcoal is effective for her to believe in it professionally.

“It probably helps remove tartar and the teeth become whiter, but it is abrasive,” McTaggart said.

When things are abrasive, it means that they clean by scrubbing and grinding the surface. When it comes to teeth, enamel is on the surface so the charcoal could be scrubbing it away.

She said that the enamel is very important in protecting the teeth, and that people shouldn’t use products that will destroy or wear down enamel.

“In dentistry we don’t tend to use things unless there’s a lot of research and things are scientifically proven,” McTaggart added.

Other Loyalist students had differing opinions about the use of charcoal.

Madi Brinklow, a student in the Aboriginal Construction Renovation program, said that she has seen videos about the use of charcoal to whiten teeth and has always wanted to try it. She added that even if a dentist told her it could wear down her enamel, she would still try it, but just not use it on a regular basis.

A second year Civil Enginering Technician student said he has also seen videos of charcoal teeth whitening and loved the look of the results. Fred Forth said that as a coffee lover and smoker he is self-conscious about the stains he has on his teeth, but would never try it if a dentist told him the charcoal could cause damage.

“I would absolutely not use it if a dentist told me it would cause permanent damage to my enamel. You only get one set of teeth so you must take care of them,” said Forth.

He added that until there is more solid research done and information put out about the use of charcoal for teeth whitening he will just stick to his routine of brushing, flossing and using mouthwash twice a day.