A clinical, randomized, double-blind study on the use of toothpastes immediately after at-home tooth bleaching

To evaluate the effect of 5% potassium nitrate containing 2% sodium fluoride and 10% strontium chloride on tooth sensitivity and color change after at-home bleaching treatment across 3 months of follow-up.

60 subjects were randomly allocated by numerical draw into three groups (n= 20): (1) Control, treated with 22% carbamide peroxide (CP) followed by application of a toothpaste without active ingredient: (2) Nitrate, treated with 22% CP followed by application of a toothpaste containing 5% potassium nitrate and 2% sodium fluoride: (3) Strontium, treated with 22% CP followed by application of a toothpaste containing 10% strontium chloride. An air jet was used to evaluate post-bleaching sensitivity associated with a modified visual analogue scale (VAS). A spectrophotometer was used to measure the color of the maxillary incisors.

The Friedman vs Kruskal-Wallis tests showed that the tooth sensitivity associated with the experimental groups during 10 days of bleaching treatment was lower than that reported with the Control (P= 0.043). ANOVA showed that variation in ΔE revealed no significant difference in tooth color among the groups for the different evaluation times (P= 0.923).

The use of a toothpaste containing 5% potassium nitrate associated with 22% carbamide peroxide improves symptoms of dentin sensitivity after 10 days of bleaching treatment.