I had Zoom whitening done yesterday. While they were doing it, I could feel my gums tingling a bit and I told the assistant. She messed with it a bit, but I’m not sure what she did. The discomfort reduced, but never went away altogether. All though the night, my gums really started to hurt and I couldn’t sleep. I looked at them this morning and they’re all white in one spot and they look very puffy, almost like a blister. What went wrong? Do I need to see the dentist again? -Eddy
Dear Eddy,
Ouch. It sounds like what you’re experiencing is a reaction to the Zoom whitening gel. Dental offices usually take extra precautions to prevent this, but occasionally, the assistant misses a spot when she’s blocking out your gums, and the gel comes into contact with them and causes a chemical burn. As dreadful as that sounds, and as uncomfortable as it is, it’s usually very minor.
Just like a burn that could happen anywhere else on your body, this should heal itself within a week or two. You may notice a blister, and it might even peel, but healthy skin will take its place, and it probably won’t be noticeable to anyone while it heals or after.
In the meantime, you can take an over-the-counter pain reliever, like ibuprofen, to help manage the discomfort. You’ll also need to be very careful while brushing. In fact, you may want to avoid brushing at all for a couple of days, followed by very light brushing until it heals totally. If you received take-home trays with your kit, don’t use them until the area is healthy again, and take extra care to wipe off excess gel when you do bleach at home. To speed up healing, most doctors recommend warm salt water rinses several times a day. There’s also some evidence to suggest that using vitamin E will help improve healing and reduce the chance of scaring later.
If you don’t see improvement within a week, or the pain gets worse, it’s a good idea to have it checked out. You should also let the office know what happened so that they can take preventative measures for future patients.
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