Is a White Diet Necessary for Tooth Bleaching Procedures? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

TL;DR

This study finds that avoiding a 'white diet' during or after tooth bleaching does not significantly affect the outcome of the treatment.

Contribution

The study provides evidence that dietary restrictions are unnecessary for effective tooth bleaching.

Findings

Dietary restrictions during at-home bleaching showed no significant effect on color change.

Post-treatment dietary restrictions for in-office bleaching also had no significant impact on results.

Overall, the study concludes that a white diet is not necessary for successful bleaching.

Abstract

The aim of this investigation was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to determine the necessity of a white diet during or following a bleaching procedure. This systematic review and meta-analysis followed the PRISMA guidelines meticulously. The research question was: Is a white diet necessary during and/or after a bleaching treatment? In vitro studies or clinical trials reporting the color change in bleached enamel after the use of a free-staining diet were considered for full-text review. For the analyses, a random-effects model was employed. Statistical significance was defined as a p-value < 0.05. A total of 17 documents were eligible for qualitative analysis: 5 clinical trials and 12 in vitro studies. Only data from the clinical trials were included in the meta-analysis. For at-home bleaching, differences in the color among the subjects were not statistically significant during the first (p = 0.64), second (p = 0.26) or third (p = 0.43) weeks of treatment. Also, the color difference one month after finishing the bleaching treatment were not statistically significant (p = 0.27). The color difference one month after finishing an in-office treatment showed that the restrictions on diet did not significantly improve the bleaching outcomes (p = 0.90). According to the findings of this review, dietary restrictions are not necessary during or after bleaching procedures.

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