What Is the Difference Between Carbamide Peroxide & Hydrogen Peroxide in Whitening Teeth?

Carbamide peroxide and hydrogen peroxide are two common ways to whiten teeth. Dental offices commonly use hydrogen peroxide treatments. Most home kits contain carbamide peroxide.

Types of Uses

• Using hydrogen peroxide to whiten teeth is a stronger, faster way to white teeth when compared to using carbamide peroxide. Most dental offices prefer using hydrogen peroxide because of its speed and strength. A lower-dosage form of hydrogen peroxide is carbamide peroxide. This is what people typically use in home teeth-whitening sessions. Most store bought teeth-whitening kits use carbamide peroxide. Most whitening treatments from dental offices, including BriteSmile and Zoom, use hydrogen peroxide.

Basics

• Carbamide peroxide is made from hydrogen peroxide by adding a urea molecule to the hydrogen peroxide molecule. Carbamide peroxide is equal to approximately 1/3 of hydrogen peroxide. A treatment of 18 percent carbamide peroxide is equal to a treatment of approximately 6 percent hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide whitening treatments are typically concentrated between 9 and 40 percent.

How it Works

• Hydrogen peroxide treatments work much faster to whiten teeth, compared to carbamide peroxide treatments. This is why dental offices use them. The difference in speed occurs because carbamide peroxide does not begin to whiten teeth until it breaks down into hydrogen peroxide. This process generally takes approximately 15 minutes. If a person has a 20-minute carbamide peroxide treatment, the person is only getting whitening effects for the last five minutes. With hydrogen peroxide treatments, the whitening begins almost immediately and the treatments generally only last for around 15 to 30 minutes. This type of treatment produces whiter teeth in less time.

Effects

• Many suppliers of teeth whitening kits use carbamide peroxide because it causes less irritations to the gums than the use of hydrogen peroxide. Carbamide peroxide is gentler because it is not as potent. Carbamide peroxide also is more stable than hydrogen peroxide, and has a much longer shelf life.