Evaluation of Turkish Dentists’ Approach to Over-the-Counter Whitening Agents: A Questionnaire-Based Study
CUREUS, vol.05, no.16, pp.15-25, 2024 (ESCI)
- Publication Type: Article / Article
- Volume: 05 Issue: 16
- Publication Date: 2024
- Doi Number: 10.7759/cureus.60602
- Journal Name: CUREUS
- Journal Indexes: Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI)
- Page Numbers: pp.15-25
- Kütahya Health Sciences University Affiliated: No
Abstract
Aim: Over-the-counter teeth-whitening products have become popular in accordance with the increasing
demands of patients. These products can also be recommended to patients by dentists. The aim was to
determine the rates of recommendation of over-the-counter teeth whitening products by dentists in Turkey
divided into different categories for their patients and to interpret them based on a cause-and-effect
relationship.
Material and methods: After obtaining ethics committee approval, the survey questions were created using
Google Forms (Google Inc., Mountainview, CA) and delivered to dentists via social media. Dentists who
signed the informed consent form completed the survey. Within the study’s scope, statistical analyses were
conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, version 26.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY). Values were
expressed as frequency (n) and percentage (%). A chi-square test was used to compare participants’ teethwhitening recommendations according to their demographic characteristics. The statistical significance
level was accepted as p <0.05 throughout the study.
Results: A total of 57.9% of dentists working in Turkey did not recommend over-the-counter teethwhitening products to their patients. When the answers to the question “Which whitening products sold on
the market do you recommend to your patients?” were compared according to the participants' place of
work, there was a statistically significant difference between the place of work and the recommended
whitening product (p <0.05). Participants working in the private sector answered “I do not recommend” at a
higher rate than participants working in the public sector. Among those who recommended toothpaste,
more dentists with five or fewer years of experience recommended toothpaste to their patients than dentists
with greater than five years of experience. Additionally, more dentists working in the public sector
recommended toothpaste to their patients than dentists working in the private sector, and more specialist
dentists recommended toothpaste to their patients than general practitioner dentists.
Conclusion: Most dentists in Turkey do not recommend over-the-counter teeth-whitening products to their
patients. Among those who recommend such products, toothpaste has been determined to be the first
choice. The results of this study may raise awareness among dentists about over-the-counter teethwhitening products and encourage new studies.