Reported by: Brendan Keefe Photographed by: Sean Dunster, Mike Mattingly Web produced by: Laura Hornsby The promise? Whiter teeth in just thirty minutes for a fraction of the price a dentist would charge.
Both Kenwood Towne Center and the Eastgate Mall have new bleaching booths, but local dentists want to know exactly what chemical they're giving you to put inside your mouth.
Our hidden cameras discovered even the bleaching employees don't know the answer.
It's not a dentist office, it's Eastgate Mall. People are getting their teeth whitened in a corridor, wedged between a jewelry story and a make-up shop.
Dr. Alec Tackett, DDS, was surprised to hear that this was going on. "That seems a little scary," Dr. Tackett said. "Because you don't know what concentrations their using."
Dr. Tackett of Newtown painstakingly applies a blue dental dam to protect his patient's gums, then applies a powerful 25-percent concentration of hydrogen peroxide bleaching gel.
"If it's strong enough to make an immediate impact, it's strong enough to damage the gum tissue," Dr. Tackett said. He's very concerned about the bleach-bright kiosks opening in local shopping malls.
"What concentration are they using?" Tackett asked. "Has it been approved? Who says this is okay?"
We decided to find out, wearing hidden cameras on two different days, with two different employees working each day.
"We use a hydrogen peroxide, we use the highest level you can go, it's 35-percent," said one employee. They told us a total of five times that the gel they're using in the mall is 35-percent hydrogen peroxide; that would be ten percent more than Dr. Tackett applies in his dentist chair.
"A 35-percent hydrogen peroxide gel solution would be stronger than what we're using here," Dr. Tackett said. "And if that was the concentration that they were using, they certainly would need some kind of barrier over the gum tissue because if that comes into contact with your lips, the gum tissue, it will burn."
"We are at 30-percent carbamide peroxide, which is easily confused with the word hydrogen peroxide," said Jennifer Richardson, a BleachBright dealer.
The owners of the two local BleachBright kiosks say their own employees got it wrong.
"It's 35-percent hydrogen peroxide, that's what whitens your teeth."
The local dealers say it's actually carbamide peroxide- a big difference, because 30-percent carbamide peroxide is equivalent to only 10-percent hydrogen peroxide.
"Hydrogen peroxide is actually stronger than carbamide peroxide," Dr. Tackett said.
In other words, the BleachBright gel is closer to over-the-counter bleaching concentrations than the to those used in dentists' offices. Dr. Tackett's gel would be two-and-a-half times stronger.
"I think the girls made an honest mistake and were mixed up," BleachBright dealer Barbara Porter said. "The whitening pen we sell lists the product on the box and it listed as carbamide peroxide."
After we told the owners what their employees said to our undercover producers, they promised to retrain the staff. But that raises the question, what kind of training do they get in the first place?
"We stay with them until they've actually treated customers," said Richardson. "And we've watched to make sure that they're doing it properly, so it's very hands-on training."
Then why don't they appear to know what's in the only product they're selling? The owners say their employees do not actually perform any whitening procedures, that customers put the bleaching gel in their own mouths.
BleachBright dealer Richardson explains that "[it's] because we're not dentists or hygienists, we cannot do that, it's completely self-administered."
It is against the law to practice dentistry without a license. Despite the hospital scrubs and the overall clinical appearance, the BleachBright staff is clear: they are not dentists or dental hygienists.
The Ohio Dental Board agrees.
"Providing a customer with materials to make trays and demonstrating to them how to use them was not necessarily the practice of dentistry, when it was specifically for bleaching," said Lili Reitz with the Ohio Dental Board. "We're going have a concern, though, if someone else places their hands in the mouth of the consumer or if they're operating the light."
Yet our producer was not asked to position or operate the light. The clerk set the light on teeth twice.
"If someone had an active cavity there and you're putting that strong a solution of gel on there, they might be sorry at the end of the day," Tackett said.
Customers are asked to fill out a detailed medical and dental history, but Dr. Tackett says a questionnaire does not take the place of a dentist.
"They may not know they have a cavity or gum disease," Dr. Tackett said.
The local BleachBright dealers say their product is not only safe, but at $119 dollars a treatment, it's providing a valuable cosmetic option to those who otherwise can't afford professional teeth whitening.
"I have never had anyone have any sensitivity with our product at all," Richardson said. "I've had people hug me when the leave the kiosk. In fact, it's in our employee handbook to accept hugs graciously because you will get them."
Dr. Tackett agrees with the recommendation at the bottom of the BleachBright questionnaire: "Consult your dentist prior to any and all applications."
"Be careful, know what you're getting into before you get into the chair," Dr. Tackett said.
Our producer experienced no ill effects and no sensitivity from his BleachBright treatment. In fact, we know of no complaints against the company, but the Ohio Dental Board would like to see new regulations put in place to enforce rules and standards for mall teeth whitening. For now, the practice is perfectly legal so long as you do the treatment yourself.
