The whitening effect of enzymatic bleaching on tetracycline

Objective Carbamide peroxide and hydrogen peroxide have been used as tooth whitening agents. The aim of this paper was to determine the efficiency of several enzyme-containing whitening systems. A method to determine the rate of ‘in vitro’ tetracycline whitening was also developed. Methods We determined the tetracycline whitening ability of carbamide peroxide and hydrogen peroxide, and the influence of peroxidase and lactoperoxidase on this tetracycline whitening rate. Results High peroxidase and lactoperoxidase concentrations increased the rate of tetracycline decoloration obtained with carbamide peroxide or hydrogen peroxide. The decoloration rate observed was lower when the glucose/glucose oxidase system was used to generate hydrogen peroxide ‘in situ’. The presence of peroxidase increased the decoloration rate of extracted teeth obtained with carbamide. Conclusions Enzymes such as peroxidase could be used as whitening catalysts to increase the rate of tetracycline decoloration.