Objectives: To clinically evaluate the sensitivity of commercially available 22% carbamide peroxide with 3% potassium nitrate, at home bleaching system.
Methods: a total of 21 subjects with no history of previous tooth whitening and no tooth sensitivity were recruited for at-home whitening clinical study using Venus White 22% carbamide peroxide (Heraeus Kulzer). Subjects were treated nightly for 2 weeks with a maxillary custom tray. Sensitivity rating from 0-10 with zero representing no pain and 10 representing worst possible pain was documented at the initial appointment. Subjects were asked to document their sensitivity every morning for 14 days during treatment, and 14 days post bleaching. Wilcoxon matched-paired signed-rank test and Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons were used at the 0.05 level of significance.
Results: Mean, standard deviation, and median sensitivity scores are as follows:
| Average week 1 sensitivity | Average week 2 sensitivity | Average week 3 sensitivity | Average week 4 sensitivity |
Mean (SD) | 1.2(1.2) | 1.7(2.0) | 0.2(0.4) | 0.1(0.3) |
Median | 0.78 | 0.78 | 0 | 0 |
25%, 75% quantile | 0.07, 2.14 | 0.07, 2.57 | 0, 0.07 | 0, 0 |
There was no statistically significant difference between week 1 and week 2 (p=0.17), or week 3 and week 4 (p=0.19). There was a statistically significant difference, between week 1 and week 3, week 1 and week 4, week 2 and week 3, week 2 and week 4; p<0.01, respectively.
Conclusions: Patients receiving nightly treatment with a commercially available 22% carbaminde peroxide 3% potassium nitrate, at-home bleaching agent reported low sensitivity levels with a mean value of below 2 on a 0-10 scale. Supported by Heraeus Kulzer