Many toothpastes make whitening claims. In fact, on a recent trip to the grocery store, upon carefully studying the offerings in the oral care section, I couldn't find a brand that didn't make a such a claim. Let's cut through all the hype here and give you the straight story.

Does whitening toothpaste really work?

The answer is a qualified "yes."

There is one toothpaste I know of that has a legitimate claim to being called the best whitening toothpaste, and that is Supersmile. It has a stain dissolving action that removes tobacco stains and other stubborn discolorations. But you won't find it in your drugstore or grocery store dental care aisle. Click here to read more about Supersmile and to find out how to buy it.

The formulas you can buy in the store, however, really work in the same way that a vacuum cleaner whitens your carpet. They get the dirt off the teeth, which leaves them whiter.

It's a little deceptive, because when they make the claim "whitening toothpaste," people are imagining that their teeth are going to go to a lighter shade, just like their friend's teeth, who paid her dentist $495 for a set of trays and some bleaching gel, and now her teeth light up the room in the dark.

It doesn't work like that.The professional teeth whitening treatments all consist of some type of oxidizing agent, such as a peroxide, that soaks into the tooth and lightens the very structure of the tooth. It's impossible for a whitening toothpaste that is on the teeth usually for a maximum of one minute, to soak into the teeth and perform that kind of bleaching. The best you can hope for is to get rid of all the surface stains.

The Best Whitening Toothpaste

Going back to Supersmile, which is the most effective at stain removal in my opinion: To continue with our carpet analogy, I would compare it to a carpet shampooer, where the other supposed whitening toothpastes are vacuum cleaners.

This product, while it doesn't penetrate to the inside of the tooth, does dissolve the outer protein pellicle layer that many tooth stains attach to. Thus it removes many problems like tobacco stains that otherwise require a professional cleaning in a dental office (though it will not remove the tartar). It gets teeth as white as you're going to get, in my opinion, short of tooth bleaching treatments.

When I practiced cosmetic dentistry, I would give a tube of Supersmile to each bleaching patient to use during their bleaching treatments and afterward, because it would keep new stains from soaking into the teeth. Dr. George Freedman, tooth bleaching expert and former president of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, said, "Supersmile is the most effective whitening toothpaste that we have in dentistry today."

So the stuff you buy in the drugstore can contain peroxide, titanium dioxide, baking soda, or Tide laundry detergent. The whitening power is pretty much going to be confined to its ability to get the dirt off your teeth. That's about it.

Related information:

• Read about toothpaste for sensitive teeth.
• Read our page about the best toothpaste.
• Hal in Florida has stains on the backs of his teeth. His options are Supersmile toothpaste or full porcelain crowns.