Cosmetic Teeth Whitening Kiosk - Bright Smile In Just Few Minutes?
July 30th, 2008
Teeth Whitening Kiosks
CBS 42 News — Strolling through the Riverchase Galleria you may be tempted by a number of impulse purchases. Here’s one right here; a cosmetic teeth whitening kiosk to brighten your smile in just 12 minutes. But how does it work? How effective it is? And is it really safe?
At “Mysmile,” it all starts with your smile. First you take an impression of your teeth. Next, the trays are filled with whitening gel, made of hydrogen peroxide. You then insert the trays into your mouth and go under the accelerator lights. After 12 minutes, you’re all done.
My smile charges $99 a teeth whitening treatment. You could pay anywhere from three to five times that at the dentist’s office. But how safe is the “in-kiosk” teeth whitening process?
UAB School of Dentistry professor Dr. Jim Broome says his biggest issue is that there’s no dentist on hand to oversee the teeth whitening procedure.
“You need to go to the person that’s most qualified to make an overall assessment of what the real issue is,” said Broome.
“I’m not a dental hygienist or a dentist, so we’re not licensed to touch your teeth or your mouth at all. So it’s a self administered process; we’re just here to make sure you do everything right,” said Adam Daivd of Mysmile.
The Alabama Board of Dental Examiners believes it is an illegal practice of dentistry as defined by the Alabama Dental Practice Act.
Jim Ward, and attorney for the Board of Dental Examiners, said, “So the board believes that general definition, who performs or attempts or professes to perform a dental operation, which obviously tooth bleaching is.”
A Mysmile district manager says the teeth whitening is safe and is a cosmetic procedure, not the practice of dentistry.
Earlier this year, the board was instrumental in shutting down another teeth whitening kiosk in the Galleria known as “Bleachbright” for practicing dentistry without a license. Ward says Bleachbright, like Mysmile, also used the “self administered process.”
Right now, the board is working on a case involving teeth whitening in a Montgomery salon.
I have done a treatment in a mall, and had no issues with it. It works and is simple…I will do it again in a year!!!
I know of an operator in New Jersey who was re-using the mouth pieces. He is operating a mall kiosk. Beware. The mall does not check criminal records for people signing leases. Even when mall management was notified they continued to allow him to operate.