Perhaps you have been using a tanning bed recently and had the thought that the tanning bed can help whiten your teeth at the same time while getting your tan. But really, can tanning beds whiten your teeth?
No tanning beds can not whiten your teeth. The UV rays that are created by tanning beds will not work at making your teeth any whiter in color. Though there are some whitening kits available that are meant to be used on a tanning bed, the tanning bed alone will not work but the UV rays it creates can help speed up the whitening effect.
Below we are going to go into this in more detail to help you know what the best choice for you is and what you must know beforehand.
Can Tanning Beds Whiten Your Teeth
As we already briefly mentioned tanning beds alone do not whiten your teeth. You might have thought that due to the strong light created by the tanning bed this will help lighten your teeth during tanning.
UV rays do not have this effect on the teeth that they sometimes can have on your hair for example.
How to Whiten Your Teeth in a Tanning Bed
If you want to make use of a tanning bed to whiten your teeth while tanning that is possible but you will need to use a whitening kit designed for that.
Typically, these kinds of kits are using hydrogen peroxide which is a whitening agent. When using these kinds of kits, the light exposure speeds up the process.
How this works is the increased light exposure speeds up the oxidation of the hydrogen peroxide which basically helps remove any stains from your teeth faster than if you didn’t have that light exposure.
Typically, you would apply the mixture to the teeth before entering the tanning bed and you would want to keep your mouth open, and teeth exposed during the tanning bed session.
Is UV Light Bad for Your Teeth
Of course, if you do decide you want to try teeth whitening while tanning it may lead to the concern if UV light is bad for your teeth. Well, the simple answer is no, UV light is not bad for your teeth.
What you should be more concerned about is your gums when trying to whiten your teeth. The exposure to your gums is more of an issue because the gums are more prone to irritation and blistering etc. if exposed to UV light for too long.
Your gums tend to be more sensitive, and this makes them more prone to irritation than skin on your body.
Should You Whiten Your Teeth in a Tanning Bed
While you can use something like hydrogen peroxide and expose your teeth during a tanning bed session to speed up the process we recommend that you don’t.
The main reasons we recommend against it is because of the stronger UV exposure to the gums which can sometimes lead to problems. Also, the unpredictability of the UV rays and how they may accelerate the whitening process. Instead, we would suggest you opt for a whitening kit that offers LED lights to have that similar effect as the tanning bed might have. The reason we prefer this is because it’s more controlled and predictable and without the concern for any gum problems.
We Recommend: LUELLI Teeth Whitening Kit
