{"id":178,"date":"2019-05-23T20:26:11","date_gmt":"2019-05-23T20:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/?p=178"},"modified":"2019-05-23T20:26:11","modified_gmt":"2019-05-23T20:26:11","slug":"activated-charcoal-teeth-whitening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/2019\/05\/23\/activated-charcoal-teeth-whitening\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Teeth Whitening with Activated Charcoal Really Work?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-179\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/AdobeStock_252059339__1558642789_21360-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Black charcoal toothpaste\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/AdobeStock_252059339__1558642789_21360-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/AdobeStock_252059339__1558642789_21360-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/AdobeStock_252059339__1558642789_21360.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>When it comes to having a brighter smile, there\u2019s no shortage of options. There\u2019s in-office whitening procedures, special toothpastes, whitening strips and gels \u2013 so many choices! But one seemingly bizarre solution definitely stands out: charcoal. Recently, it\u2019s become something of a trend to use activated charcoal in toothpaste or in powder form for teeth whitening. Does this technique work? Is it even safe? Here\u2019s what you\u2019ll need to know before getting in on the activated charcoal fad.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<h2>How Does Teeth Whitening Work?<\/h2>\n<p>Your tooth has several layers. The whitest, outermost layer is the enamel, which is the hardest part of the tooth; under that is a less dense layer of yellowish dentin, and at the center is the pulp, the soft inner tissue containing blood vessels and nerves. Yellowed teeth can be the result of stains in or on the enamel, or it can be the result of the enamel becoming thinner with age and making the dentin more visible.<\/p>\n<p>There are two different kinds of whitening: regular whitening that restores the tooth\u2019s normal level of whiteness and bleaching that can make the tooth even whiter. With regular whitening, the product removes surface stains through physical or chemical action; this is the type of whitening that activated charcoal is used for.<\/p>\n<h2>How Can Activated Charcoal Whiten Teeth?<\/h2>\n<p>Activated charcoal can bind with food particles, plaque, and other surface stains on the teeth. After letting it sit for a while, you can remove it along with all the substances is bound to. In this way, you can remove many causes of surface discoloration all at once.<\/p>\n<p>Keep in mind that activated charcoal only works on surface stains. For deep stains or age-related yellowness, you\u2019ll need to seek alternative treatments such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/teeth-whitening.html\">professional whitening<\/a>. That\u2019s why it\u2019s a good idea to speak with your dentist about your teeth before trying any treatment; you want to be sure that you\u2019re addressing the real source of the problem.<\/p>\n<h2>Is Activated Charcoal Safe?<\/h2>\n<p>Activated charcoal has actually been approved by the FDA for many health uses. That said, the American Dental Association has yet to approve activated charcoal products for use on your teeth.<\/p>\n<p>One thing to keep in mind when using charcoal toothpaste for whitening is that it can be very abrasive; it can wear down the enamel layer and permanently damage the tooth over time. If you do use charcoal toothpaste, be sure to brush very gently in a circular motion. Also, don\u2019t use charcoal toothpaste every day; limit it to two or three days a week.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, before using any sort of new product or treatment on your teeth, you\u2019ll want to speak with your dentist. They\u2019ll be able to advise you on any risks a product or treatment carries, and they may be able to point you towards alternatives. With so many people using charcoal for teeth whitening, it can be tempting to jump on the bandwagon, but be careful; a whiter smile is nice, but taking care of your teeth overall is always the most important goal!<\/p>\n<h3>About the Author<\/h3>\n<p>At Lifetime Dental, Dr. Frank Michitti helps patients in search of happy, healthy smiles. He is a Master of the Academy of General Dentistry, a title given to less than 2% of dentists in the United States and Canada. He offers several forms of cosmetic dentistry, including teeth whitening. To learn more about the practice, visit his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/contact-us.html\">website<\/a> or call (413) 786-4400.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When it comes to having a brighter smile, there\u2019s no shortage of options. There\u2019s in-office whitening procedures, special toothpastes, whitening strips and gels \u2013 so many choices! But one seemingly bizarre solution definitely stands out: charcoal. Recently, it\u2019s become something of a trend to use activated charcoal in toothpaste or in powder form for teeth [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Teeth Whitening in Feeding Hills | Charcoal Whitening | Lifetime Dental<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Teeth whitening with activated charcoal is a recent trend, but does it really work? Here\u2019s what you need to know before you try it.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/2019\/05\/23\/activated-charcoal-teeth-whitening\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Teeth Whitening in Feeding Hills | Charcoal Whitening | Lifetime Dental\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Teeth whitening with activated charcoal is a recent trend, but does it really work? Here\u2019s what you need to know before you try it.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/2019\/05\/23\/activated-charcoal-teeth-whitening\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lifetime Dental Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-05-23T20:26:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/AdobeStock_252059339__1558642789_21360-300x200.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"lifetimedentalteam\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"lifetimedentalteam\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/2019\/05\/23\/activated-charcoal-teeth-whitening\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/2019\/05\/23\/activated-charcoal-teeth-whitening\/\",\"name\":\"Teeth Whitening in Feeding Hills | Charcoal Whitening | Lifetime Dental\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/2019\/05\/23\/activated-charcoal-teeth-whitening\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/2019\/05\/23\/activated-charcoal-teeth-whitening\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/AdobeStock_252059339__1558642789_21360-300x200.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-05-23T20:26:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/dfcc466d5a58a2ba9d20d890d877d908\"},\"description\":\"Teeth whitening with activated charcoal is a recent trend, but does it really work? Here\u2019s what you need to know before you try it.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/2019\/05\/23\/activated-charcoal-teeth-whitening\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/2019\/05\/23\/activated-charcoal-teeth-whitening\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/2019\/05\/23\/activated-charcoal-teeth-whitening\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/AdobeStock_252059339__1558642789_21360.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/AdobeStock_252059339__1558642789_21360.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":533,\"caption\":\"Black charcoal toothpaste\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/2019\/05\/23\/activated-charcoal-teeth-whitening\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Does Teeth Whitening with Activated Charcoal Really Work?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Lifetime Dental Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/dfcc466d5a58a2ba9d20d890d877d908\",\"name\":\"lifetimedentalteam\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/901661a85ee480f451cf555145199b34?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/901661a85ee480f451cf555145199b34?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"lifetimedentalteam\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/author\/lifetimedentalteam\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Teeth Whitening in Feeding Hills | Charcoal Whitening | Lifetime Dental","description":"Teeth whitening with activated charcoal is a recent trend, but does it really work? Here\u2019s what you need to know before you try it.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/2019\/05\/23\/activated-charcoal-teeth-whitening\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Teeth Whitening in Feeding Hills | Charcoal Whitening | Lifetime Dental","og_description":"Teeth whitening with activated charcoal is a recent trend, but does it really work? Here\u2019s what you need to know before you try it.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/2019\/05\/23\/activated-charcoal-teeth-whitening\/","og_site_name":"Lifetime Dental Blog","article_published_time":"2019-05-23T20:26:11+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/AdobeStock_252059339__1558642789_21360-300x200.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"lifetimedentalteam","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"lifetimedentalteam","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/2019\/05\/23\/activated-charcoal-teeth-whitening\/","url":"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/2019\/05\/23\/activated-charcoal-teeth-whitening\/","name":"Teeth Whitening in Feeding Hills | Charcoal Whitening | Lifetime Dental","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/2019\/05\/23\/activated-charcoal-teeth-whitening\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/2019\/05\/23\/activated-charcoal-teeth-whitening\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/AdobeStock_252059339__1558642789_21360-300x200.jpg","datePublished":"2019-05-23T20:26:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/dfcc466d5a58a2ba9d20d890d877d908"},"description":"Teeth whitening with activated charcoal is a recent trend, but does it really work? Here\u2019s what you need to know before you try it.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/2019\/05\/23\/activated-charcoal-teeth-whitening\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/2019\/05\/23\/activated-charcoal-teeth-whitening\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/2019\/05\/23\/activated-charcoal-teeth-whitening\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/AdobeStock_252059339__1558642789_21360.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/AdobeStock_252059339__1558642789_21360.jpg","width":800,"height":533,"caption":"Black charcoal toothpaste"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/2019\/05\/23\/activated-charcoal-teeth-whitening\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Does Teeth Whitening with Activated Charcoal Really Work?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/","name":"Lifetime Dental Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/dfcc466d5a58a2ba9d20d890d877d908","name":"lifetimedentalteam","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/901661a85ee480f451cf555145199b34?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/901661a85ee480f451cf555145199b34?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"lifetimedentalteam"},"url":"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/author\/lifetimedentalteam\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":180,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178\/revisions\/180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifetime.dental\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}