Are Whitestrips GOOD for dentistry? BY: Joe Steven Jr., DDS

Procter & Gamble will soon be launching a $100,000,000 advertising campaign promoting their over-the-counter home teeth whitening product called Crest Whitestrips. Have you been signing petitions to boycott all of P&G’s long list of products? Have you sent a letter to them expressing your disappointment with their company for back-stabbing our profession? I’ve been reading a lot of postings on some of the dental e-mail chat rooms that show there are many dentists ready to take arms against P&G. They just can’t believe that a company such as theirs would do this to a profession who has endorsed Crest toothpaste for so many years.

Well, I for one think our profession owes P&G a grateful congratulations for bringing something to the marketplace that will do more to promote dentistry than anything we’ve seen in a long time. Okay, my office in the future may not be sucking down bleaching trays as often as we do now, but I bet we’ll be busier providing more dentistry that will be generated by these Whitestrips. Actually, every dentist should hope that as many people as possible will go out and try them. Think about it. When’s the last time anything of this significance has brought so much attention to how people look at their teeth? I hope everyone watches these commercials and runs to the bathroom mirror to just see how dingy their teeth are, then goes out and buys Whitestrips. The best thing that could happen to dentistry would be to have every teenager and adult using these bleaching aids. You know what’s going to happen? A new heightened awareness of how their teeth really look. After whitening their teeth with Whitestrips, they’re going to beat a path to our offices to have their old PFM on #8 replaced to match their new shade. Same thing will happen when their teeth lighten enough to show a discernable difference with their old existing anterior composites.

You can also count on those patients who don’t have the dexterity to manipulate the bandaid-like strips who will call their dentist to have their teeth whitened professionally. And then, there is also going to be that group of patients who, after repeated exposure with P&G’s ads, will be motivated to visit their dentist about cosmetic concerns and will simply prefer to have this service done professionally. This is better than us spending our advertising dollars to get patients in the door.

So, let’s relax and quit getting our blood pressure all out of control. P&G has hit on a good thing, and one which any of us would love to have invented ourselves and brought to market. Or, if one of us did, would we have kept it under the carpet so as not to diminish the whitening services of our colleagues? I don’t think so! This is called progress and one which I think all of us will benefit. Thank you Procter and Gamble!

Recently, Townie August de Oliveira posted this message on the boards at www.dentaltown.com: “I don’t know if I am being a dental “scab” here, but I can’t keep Crest WhiteStrips in stock. I believe a professional kit costs about $23 bucks and sells for $65. I believe it is 6.8% carbamide peroxide. Does it work? Yes it does, but not as well as the stuff we use in trays. Personally I think it’s great that Crest is “growing the pie”. I have a lot of patients asking about them. I keep one kit in each room. We tell them which is better and they almost always go for the bleaching trays. But for some, $375 for bleaching is steep. ( I think most around my town charge $500). But for those that feel that Crest is stealing your business, I highly doubt it. I think that this will make people more aware of cosmetic dentistry and their oral health in general. august@compaq.net

Internet Resources for more information on Crest Whitestrips:
www.cranews.com/newsletter/highlights/whitestrips
http://crest.com/products/whitestrips
www.dentalcare.com/soap/cws
www.just4teeth.com/product/Crest/whitestrips.html

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