Natural Dental Antioxidants

Discoloration of teeth is a common concern among patients seeking cosmetic treatment. The color of teeth can be affected by various factors, both internal and external, such as ingestion of chemicals or consumption of foods that can cause staining. Currently, there are numerous products available in the market that claim to remove stains and whiten teeth. These options include professional prophylaxis, bleaching gels applied to vital teeth for home use, or supervised application in a dental office. Bleaching gels typically contain varying concentrations of carbamide or hydrogen peroxide and are applied using different methods, resulting in different activation mechanisms that promote tooth bleaching through oxi-reduction reactions. Unfortunately, bleaching agents have an adverse effect on bonding to enamel. This is because of the free radicals generated by the breakdown of hydrogen peroxidecontaining bleaching agents. The free radicals hinder the resin infiltration in the interprismatic spaces, inhibit resin polymerization , and restrict resin tag creation. These free radicals are eliminated from the body within a span of 24 hours to 3 weeks, and the bond strength to enamel is restored. So bonding should be postponed for 1-3 weeks so that the bond strength is restored, but this waiting period is not always clinically possible. The use of antioxidants could be a possible solution to immediately restore the reduced bond strength. Antioxidants could be either synthetic or natural. Although synthetic antioxidants proved to have the ability to restore bond strength, they have many adverse effects. Natural antioxidants could be a good alternative to synthetic ones with no side effects.