Dental Materials (2004) 20, 852861

www.intl.elsevierhealth.com/journals/dema

Effect of bleaching on restorative materials

and restorationsa systematic review
Thomas Attin*, Christian Hannig, Annette Wiegand, Rengin Attin
Department of Operative Dentistry, Preventive Dentistry and Periodontology,
t Go
ttingen, Robert-Koch-Str. 40, D-37075 Go
ttingen, Germany
Georg-August-Universita
Received 6 November 2003; received in revised form 1 April 2004; accepted 6 April 2004

KEYWORDS
Peroxide; Bleaching;
Restoration; Bonding;
Composite resin;
Amalgam

Summary Objective: Internal and external bleaching procedures utilizing 3 35%

hydrogen peroxide solutions or hydrogen peroxide releasing agents, such as carbamide
peroxide or sodium perborate, can be used for whitening of teeth. The purpose of the
review article was to summarize and discuss the available information concerning the
effects of peroxide releasing bleaching agents on dental restorative materials and
restorations.
Sources: Information from all original scientific full papers or reviews listed in
PubMed or ISI Web of Science (search term: bleaching AND (composite OR amalgam OR
glass ionomer OR compomer OR resin OR alloy) were included in the review.
Data: Existing literature reveals that bleaching therapies may have a negative effect
on physical properties, marginal integrity, enamel and dentin bond strength, and color
of restorative materials as investigated in numerous in vitro studies. However, there
are no reports in literature indicating that bleaching may exert a negative impact on
existing restorations requiring renewal of the restorations under clinical conditions.
Conclusion: Bleaching may exert a negative influence on restorations and
restorative materials. Advice is provided based on the current literature to minimize
the impact of bleaching therapies on restorative materials and restorations.
Q 2004 Academy of Dental Materials. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Introduction
Recent reviews underlined that both bleaching of
discolored vital and non-vital teeth has a long and
successful history [1,2]. For brightening discolored
teeth, the use of hydrogen peroxide or peroxide
releasing agents, such as carbamide peroxide or
sodium perborate, has become a popular treatment
modality. A recently published review showed that
tooth bleaching teeth is comparatively safe in
terms of potential risk for alteration of dental
*Corresponding author. Tel.: 49-551-392884; fax: 49-551392037.
E-mail address: thomas.attin@med.uni-goettingen.de

hard tissue [3]. This corresponds to the fact that

macroscopically or clinically visible damage due to
vital bleaching has not been described in the
literature so far, although it is reported that
bleaching of non-vital teeth using the walkingbleach-technique involves the risk of development
of external cervical resorptions [1,4]. Despite the
fact that vital bleaching is not regarded as creating
macroscopically visible defects, there are numerous studies which exhibited microstructural
changes of dental hard tissue induced by bleaching
agents, especially when peroxides are applied
in high concentrations [5]. Thereby, alteration
of the histological aspects and composition
of bleached enamel has been described [6 12].

0109-5641/$ - see front matter Q 2004 Academy of Dental Materials. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.dental.2004.04.002

Bleaching and restorative materials

It was also reported that slight surface alterations,

as assessed by scanning electron microscopy, and a
decrease of surface microhardness and fracture
toughness might occur due to bleaching of dental
hard tissues [13 22]. These possible effects on
dental hard tissues are discussed as being minimal
and not relevant provided that the bleaching agents
are applied in a sensible manner and according to
the manufacturers instructions [1,19,20]. Beside
these aspects regarding influence of bleaching
agents on dental hard tissues, some clinicians also
express concern about the effect of these agents on
dental restorative materials [23,24].
The purpose of the present article is to summarize the available information concerning the effects
of bleaching agents on dental restorative materials.
All original scientific full papers or reviews listed in
PubMed or ISI Web of Science (search term:
bleaching AND (composite OR amalgam OR glass
ionomer OR compomer OR resin OR alloy) were
included in the review, but abstracts dealing with
this topic were not taken into consideration. Case
reports were included only when they exclusively
report observations which were not described in
other publications.
The influence of various bleaching agents on
physical properties, surface morphology and color
of different restorative materials, has been investigated in several in vitro-studies simulating the
clinical situation as closely as possible. In those
studies, home-bleaching products (10 16% carbamide peroxide) were generally used within a 2 4
week bleaching simulation with application intervals of 4 8 h per day. Tooth-whiteners designed for
in-office-application (30 35% hydrogen or carbamide peroxide) were applied at treatment intervals
of 15 60 min (as recommended by the manufacturers). These different bleaching regimes were
preferably used in the studies reviewed and are
therefore not repeatedly mentioned when describing and discussing the results of the respective
studies. However, it should be borne in mind that
the total time period of application was much
higher for the low concentrated regimes than for
the highly concentrated ones.

Effect of bleaching agents on properties

of restorative materials
Composite resins
In some scanning electron microscopic studies and
profilometric analysis, it was shown that 10 16%
carbamide peroxide bleaching gels (i.e. 3.6 5.76%

853

hydrogen peroxide) may lead to a slight, but

statistically significant increase in surface roughness and amount of porosities of microfilled and
hybrid composite resins [25 27]. These findings
were not corroborated in a SEM-study applying 6%
hydrogen peroxide gel on a hybrid composite in a
cycling protocol with intermittent storage of the
samples in pooled human saliva [28]. It is conceivable that storage in saliva might have modified
or attenuated the hydrogen peroxide impact by
formation of a surface-protection salivary layer on
the restorative material. In microfilled specimens
also, cracking was observed after application of 10%
carbamide peroxide for the above mentioned
period of 4 weeks [27]. Usage of tooth whiteners
containing 30 35% hydrogen peroxide did not effect
the surface texture as revealed with profilometrical
analysis [29,30]. Similar results were described
using 20 and 35% carbamide peroxide gel for 3 and
1 h per day, respectively, during a period of 14 days
[31]. However, analysis of surface reflectance
showed significant changes in microfilled and hybrid
composite resins after application of highly concentrated tooth whiteners with 30 35% hydrogen
peroxide [29]. The authors suggested that the
changes in surface reflectance reveal more subtle
changes in the surface and perhaps also in the
immediate subsurface. In this context it should also
be mentioned that salivary proteins absorbed onto
the surface of composite materials decreased after
bleaching with peroxide containing agents, which is
suggested to have an influence on bacterial
adhesion of cariogenic bacteria, such as Streptococcus sobrinus and Streptococcus mutans, but not
of Actinomyces viscosus [32].
There is controversy about the impact of low
concentrated 10 16% carbamide peroxide gels on
surface microhardness of restorative composite
materials. In some investigations softening of
composite resins was associated with the application of home-bleaching gels [27,33]. Other
investigations revealed no significant hardness
changes [34,35] due to application of homebleaching gels or even an increase in surface
hardness [25,36]. In-office-tooth whiteners (35%
carbamide peroxide or 35% hydrogen peroxide) did
not significantly affect hardness and tensile
strength of composite materials [37,38].
For standardized and reproducible evaluation of
color changes of restorative materials, colorimeters are used analyzing L*a*b* values according
to the CIELab-system [39,40]. It has been claimed
that under clinical conditions in the mouth, DE
color differences have been reported to be relevant
and perceptible only when higher than 3.3 [41]
or 3.6 [42]. Application of 10% hydrogen peroxide or

854

heated 30% hydrogen peroxide resulted in composite color changes which were presumably clinically
detectable with DE p ranging between 2 and 11 for
the different materials and shades tested [43,44].
In contrast, use of 10% carbamide peroxide gel led
to color changes of composite resins less than DE p 2
and these were comparable to color changes of
unbleached samples stored in water only [44,45].
However, even 10% carbamide bleaching agents
were able to remove extrinsic stains from composite restorative materials [46].

Polyacid-modified resin-based composites,

resin-modified glass ionomer cements, glass
ionomer cements and zinc oxide cements
Highly concentrated bleaching regimes induced
surface degradation, softening, an increase in
fluoride release and changes in the coefficient of
thermal expansion of polyacid-modified resin-based
composites (compomers) when those bleaching
agents were continuously applied for 1 5 days
[47,48]. In some products, even cracks were
observed on the surface of the specimens. However,
a total of three 30-min bleaching sessions conducted
at 1-week intervals, as recommended by the
manufacturers, did not result in detrimental effects
of the surface finish of compomers, resin-modified
glass ionomer cements or glass ionomer cements
[30]. In contrast, after treatment with 10 16%
carbamide peroxide bleaching gels, an increase in
surface roughness for some brands of those
materials were noted, while other gels displayed
decreased surface roughness, suggesting that the
effects of the gels seem to be material dependent
[25,26]. Jefferson et al. [49] examined alterations
of atomic weight percentages in glass ionomer
cement after contact with 10% carbamide peroxide
with pH 4.5 and reported that the matrix of the
specimens showed surface wash-off and corrosion
with the cores of the silica more exposed and a
decrease of surface aluminum content. In contrast
to these findings, both high and low concentrated
bleaching agents did not show any influence on
fluoride release of dental materials, such as
conventional and resin-modified glass ionomer
cements [50]. Additionally, it was recently proved
that a low concentrated 6% hydrogen peroxide gel
did not cause significant dissolution or increased
wear rate of glass ionomer cements [51].
The occurrence of visible color changes in
compomers treated with 10% carbamide peroxide
were, likewise, the changes in surface texture,
dependent on the brand tested, whereas treatment
with 10 and 30% hydrogen peroxide resulted
in noticeable color change irrespective of

T. Attin et al.

the compomer material evaluated [44,52]. Superficial, extrinsic stain could be removed successfully
with 10% carbamide peroxide from resin-modified
glass ionomer cement, but not from a polyacidmodified resin-based composite [46]. Microhardness of resin-modified glass ionomer cements
increased [33] or remained stable [36] after treatment with 10% carbamide peroxide gels. Utilizing
highly concentrated bleaching regimes, no surface
microhardness changes were observed in polyacidmodified resin-based composites or resin-modified
glass ionomer cements [38].

Feldspathic porcelain
The only investigations on the effect of bleaching
agents on ceramic restorative materials were
performed by Turker and Biskin [25,33], who
evaluated the effects of bleaching agents on
feldspathic porcelain. They observed that 10 16%
carbamide peroxide gels (applied for 8 h per day for
30 days) were able to significantly decrease surface
hardness of the porcelain material tested. However, surface texture was not effected by the
bleaching regimen, as also reported in an SEM
investigation by Schemehorn et al. [28], when
applying a 6% hydrogen peroxide gel on feldspathic
porcelain.

Provisional materials
Jefferson et al. [49] described a decrease in
aluminum and an increase in porosity in zinc oxide
cement after immersion in acidic 10% carbamide
peroxide solutions. Zinc oxide surface levels of IRM
fillings were significantly reduced due to influence
of 10% carbamide peroxide, but not after application of 10% hydrogen peroxide, which, however,
led to cracking and expansion of the tested material
[53]. The color of provisional restorative materials
designed for fabrication of crowns were reported to
change after 14 days of simulated bleaching with
10% carbamide peroxide gel dependent on the
provisional material tested. Thereby, methacrylate-based materials showed a shift to orange or
dingy, whereas polycarbonate crowns and bis-acryl
composite resin provisional material were not
discolored [54].

Amalgam and other dental alloys

Low concentrated hydrogen peroxide gels (6%) do
not alter the surface texture of either high-copper
amalgam or type III gold alloy [28]. However,
evaluation of corrosion current density of various
dental alloys revealed that the application of 10%

Bleaching and restorative materials

855

carbamide peroxide solution on non-polished amalgam samples and nickel chromium specimens may
cause corrosion of these materials, but not of noble
alloys. In this study, it was also shown that the
bleaching agent caused lower corrosion potential
for the polished amalgam samples compared to
non-polished specimens [55]. Beside this study,
revealing the alteration of corrosive potential of
some dental alloys, various laboratory studies have
reported increased release of amalgam components, such as mercury and silver, from amalgam
specimens exposed to 10% carbamide peroxide or
10% hydrogen peroxide preparations [56 58].
Active oxidation was held to be responsible for
the increased release of amalgam components and
also for greening of the tooth-amalgam interface
clinically observed by Haywood [59] during
extended 10% carbamide bleaching. In vitro studies
showed that the amount of mercury release was
dependent on both the amalgam and carbamide
peroxide brand tested [56,57,60]. Also, increasing
carbamide peroxide concentrations led to an
increase in amalgam mercury release. Thereby,
the mercury release ranged from 0 to 30 times
as much as compared to the controls which
were stored in saline or phosphate buffer solutions
[58,60,61]. The mercury release from amalgam
seems also to be modified by the presence of biofilm
on amalgam containing saliva, bacteria and polysaccharide, since an experimentally induced biofilm
coating on amalgam has shown to reduce mercury
release into the surrounding environment [62].
However, it should be noted that the above
mentioned experiments had been conducted in
vitro and that the mercury release might be more
pronounced than in the in vivo situation.

the restorative materials with complete or partial

debonding of fillers causing reduced surface integrity and loss of hardness of the materials [30].
Unfortunately, in none of the above mentioned
studies were investigated how far the induced
porosities, increased surface roughness and
reduction in surface hardness of the tested
materials led to recommendable need for replacement of existing restorations after bleaching to
ensure longevity of the restorations. Therefore, it
remains speculative whether these changes of
surface texture and hardness are relevant under
clinical conditions or if they are barely a surface
phenomenon, which could be removed by simple
polishing of restorations. However, polishing of the
restorations after bleaching is advisable at least,
since the increased surface roughness is held to be
responsible for increased adherence of certain
cariogenic microorganisms to the outer surface of
tooth-colored restorative materials after contact
with different bleaching agents as assessed by Mor
et al. [63].
The oxidizing effect of the bleaching agents is
also held responsible for the observed higher rate of
mercury release from amalgam. In order to reduce
patient exposition to amalgam components, polishing of amalgam restorations prior to starting of a
bleaching therapy should be performed to reduce
corrosion potential of the amalgam restorations.
Additionally, pre-coating of amalgam surfaces with
a protective varnish such as copalite (10% copal
resin in a combination of ether, alcohol and
acetone) seems to be advisable to reduce release
of mercury into the surrounding environment during
bleaching with 10% carbamide peroxide [57].

Reasons for the impact of bleaching agents

on properties of restorative materials
and clinical consequences

Effect of bleaching agents on bond

strength of restorative materials
to enamel and dentin

The alterations in color of the restorative materials

have been attributed to oxidation of surface
pigments and amine compounds, which have also
been indicated as responsible for color instability of
restorative materials over time. Differences in
color change between different materials might
be a result of different amount of resin and
different degrees of conversion of the resin matrix
to polymer [43]. Also surface phenomena, such as
increase in porosities, are discussed as a result of
the deleterious impact of the oxidizing bleaching
agents on the polymer-matrix of resin-based
materials [37]. Additionally, it was debated
whether the negative influences of the oxidizing
agents on the resin matrix led to water uptake of

Bond strength of composite resins to enamel

Numerous studies have addressed the question
whether various bleaching procedures effect the
bond strength of composite resins to enamel specimens prepared from bovine or human teeth. Only
one study was available which considered this
aspect using resin-modified glass ionomer cement
[64]. The overwhelming majority of studies utilizing
25 35% hydrogen peroxide uniformly showed that
both shear bond strength and tensile bond strength
of all composite restorative materials tested were
significantly reduced when composite application
(including acid-etching pretreatment) was

856

performed immediately, i.e. within 1 day, after

completion of bleaching regime [65 72].
This was true irrespective of the application time
(5, 30 or 60 min, respectively) of the 35% hydrogen
peroxide solution during the bleaching procedure
[68 73]. It was shown that resin tags in bleached
enamel subsequently acid etched with 37% phosphoric were less defined, more fragmented and
penetrated to a lesser depth than in unbleached
enamel controls [69].
Teixeira et al. [74,75] simulated the walkingbleach-technique by placement of various highly
concentrated bleaching agents into the pulp
chamber of tooth specimens for 4 weeks. Enamel
bond strength of composite materials tested on
enamel slabs prepared from those teeth was only
reduced when a mixture of sodium perborate with
30% hydrogen peroxide was applied, but not after
use of either 37% carbamide peroxide or a mixture
of sodium perborate with water. This reduction in
shear bond strength was valid until a 7-d-postbleaching period elapsed before bonding. Studies
investigating the appropriate time point for bonding of composites to enamel after termination of inoffice bleaching with 25 35% hydrogen peroxide
reported that bond strength returned to normal
values when the composite was applied on the
specimens 24 h [65] or 2 weeks [72] after bleaching.
Other studies also showed that a delay of 1 week
was not long enough to allow for optimal bonding
[66,67,73,76], although peroxide completely leaches from 35% hydrogen bleached enamel already
within 7 days after application [77].
Only a single investigation suggested that bond
strength of brackets bonded to acid etched enamel
immediately after in-office bleaching with 35%
hydrogen peroxide was not significantly affected
[78]. However, failure analysis showed that
unbleached controls primarily failed at the
bracket/adhesive interface, whereas bleached
groups either showed cohesive failures within the
adhesive or failed at the adhesive/enamel interface
as also reported in other investigations [70]. This
finding, therefore, also supports the assumption
that the adhesion of resin to bleached enamel and
also the properties of the adhesively attached resin
are negatively affected by the bleaching procedure
performed before bonding.
Also, most of the studies investigating the
influence of carbamide peroxide gels on adhesiveness of enamel revealed reduction of enamel
composite bond strength compared to unbleached
enamel [66,79 82]. Thereby, bond strength
reduction was similar for carbamide peroxide gels
concentrated between 10 and 20% [83]. Only few
studies did not find a negative impact of carbamide

T. Attin et al.

peroxide (10%) bleaching on composite-enamel

bond strength [17,64]. Similar to the bond strength
reduction described above for enamel bleached
with highly concentrated hydrogen peroxide solutions, the bond strength return to normal values
when the composite is applied to the enamel after a
time lapse. Recommendations for application of
composite materials onto carbamide peroxide
bleached enamel ranged from 1 day [79], 3 7 days
[66,84], to 3 weeks [83]. The effect of bonding
agent on composite bond strength to enamel
bleached with carbamide peroxide gel seems to
depend on the bonding agent used [85]. However,
controversy exists whether acetone-based adhesive
systems are generally able to reverse the negative
effects of carbamide peroxide bleaching on composite enamel bond strength. Sung et al. [85]
reported that a significant difference between
acetone-based adhesive aided bond strength for
bleached and unbleached enamel was registered,
but not for the alcohol-based adhesive tested. In
contrast, other authors reported that an acetonebased adhesive and also other water-clearing
solvents, such as pure acetone or alcohol, were
able to significantly reduce the adverse effects of
bleaching on composite-enamel bond [82,86].
Only one study dealt with the adhesion of resinmodified glass ionomer cements to pre-bleached
enamel. It was shown that the resin-modified glass
ionomer cement used for bracket bonding was not
affected by pre-bleaching of enamel with 10%
carbamide peroxide at 24 h and 14 days after
bleaching [64].

Bond strength of composite resins and glass

ionomer cements to dentin
Bond strength of restorative materials to dentin has
not been investigated intensively. The few studies
which are available reported unanimously about a
reduction of dentin bond strength for composite
and glass ionomer cements for both bleaching with
30 35% hydrogen peroxide and 10 21% carbamide
peroxide [76,87 91]. This finding was true irrespective of the adhesive systems used for bonding of
composite materials. In most of the studies,
reduction in bond strength was, like the effect in
enamel, still present after an elapse of 7 days
before application of the tested materials to the
bleached dentin specimens [76,87,89]. Only
Demarco et al. [91] reported that dentin bond
strength of composite was not impaired when
bonding was delayed for 1 week after bleaching
treatment with 30% hydrogen peroxide.

Bleaching and restorative materials

Reasons for the impact of bleaching agents

on bond strength of restorative materials
and clinical consequences
Several aspects are held to be responsible for the
reduction in composite bond strength to bleached
enamel and dentin. Bleaching with hydrogen peroxide or hydrogen peroxide-releasing agents may
result in significant decrease of enamel calcium and
phosphate content and in morphological alterations
in the most superficial enamel crystallites [8,92].
Moreover, acid etching of bleached enamel surface
produced loss of prismatic form resulting in an
enamel surface which appeared to be over-etched
[17]. Additionally, it was suggested that the enamel
and dentin organic matrix was altered by the
oxidizing effect of hydrogen peroxide [93,94].
These aspects may lead to an enamel surface,
which did not allow for formation of a strong and
stable bond between the composite applied and the
superficial etched enamel layer. Furthermore,
reduction in bond strength in hydrogen-peroxidetreated enamel and dentin could be caused by
residual oxygen present in enamel and dentin pores
after completion of the bleaching treatment.
Liberation of the oxygen could either interfere
with resin infiltration into enamel and dentin [66,
76] or inhibit polymerization of resins that cure via
a free-radical mechanism [95]. The latter aspect
might result in oxygen-inhibited polymerization of
the composite components directly in contact with
the dental hard tissues leading to a soft interface
not able to withstand debonding forces sufficiently.
Interestingly, SEM examinations demonstrated that
acid etching following 30% hydrogen peroxide usage
did not totally remove the smear layer on dentin
surfaces [91]. This fact might presumably impair
the interaction between dentin adhesives applied
with total-etching-technique and dentin. For the
glass ionomer cement it is also discussed that the
setting of the cement is inhibited by oxygen
remnants [87]. The recommendations for a 1 3
week delay before placement of composite or glass
ionomer restorations after termination of bleaching
therapy are made under the assumption that the
residual oxygen may have sufficient time to leach
from the dental hard tissues. To dissolve remnants
of peroxide, cavities can also be cleaned with
catalase or 10% sodium-ascorbate [96 99].
However, application of these agents might be
time-consuming or expensive, so that further
investigations are needed to optimize their use
under clinical conditions. It is therefore more
feasible to follow the above mentioned recommendations to allow for contact time of at least 7 days

857

with water to avoid the reduction of adhesion of

composites to enamel [67,73,77]. Optimal bonding
to pre-bleached dental hard tissue could be
achieved after a period of about 3 weeks [83,100].

Effect of bleaching agents on marginal

quality of restorations
Composite resins
Pre-restorative non-vital, intra-coronal bleaching
in the sense of walking-bleach-technique using
mixtures of 37% carbamide peroxide or pastes
consisting of 30% hydrogen peroxide and sodium
perborate leads to a higher rate of microleakage in
composite restorations of both the access cavity
and class-V cavities placed immediately after
termination of bleaching [75,100 102]. In class-V
restorations, the increase of microleakage after
intra-coronal application of 37% carbamide peroxide was only detected in dentin margins and not
in enamel margins [100]. The rate of microleakage
of restored access cavities increased with increasing duration of the application of the sodium
perborate hydrogen peroxide mixture [102].
Thereby, a 7-day application resulted in inferior
sealing compared to a 1- or 4-day application.
Short-term use of intracoronal calcium hydroxide
medicament for 7 days after completion of walkingbleach therapy was able to reverse the negative
influences of the hydrogen peroxide application on
microleakage of access cavities [101].
Controversy exists about the influence of preoperative external bleaching with 10% carbamide
peroxide on microleakage of composite restorations. Crim [103] reported that 10% carbamide
peroxide did not impair the marginal seal of class-V
restorations placed at the cementoenamel junction. In contrast, in a study by Ulukapi et al. [104],
microleakage rates of labial restorations with
enamel margins only, were significantly increased
after 10% carbamide peroxide bleaching. Similar
findings were reported by Turkun and Turkun [96],
who observed significant reduction in sealing of
access cavities with composite resins up to 1 week
after application of 10% carbamide peroxide into
the pulp chamber.
Two studies reported that the post-operative
contact of composite restorations with 35% hydrogen peroxide or 10 16% carbamide peroxide gel
adversely affected the marginal seal at both dentin
[105] and enamel [104] margins. In contrast, other
studies did not find increased microleakage rates at
least at enamel margins [105,106].

858

Polyacid-modified resin-based composites,

resin-modified glass ionomer cements,
amalgam and temporary materials
Only two studies addressed to the impact of postoperative bleaching (35% hydrogen peroxide or
3 16% carbamide peroxide) on restorations with
enamel margins fabricated with polyacid-modified
resin-based composites, resin-modified glass ionomer cements or amalgam [104,106]. In both
studies, no deterioration of marginal seal was
revealed. Marginal leakage of amalgam restorations
with enamel margins only were also not negatively
influenced by pre-operative external bleaching with
10% carbamide peroxide [104].
It was indicated that temporary restorative
materials, such as TERM, zinc-oxide-eugenol
cement and zinc oxide phosphate cement, did not
provide an optimal seal when used for provisional
restoration of the access cavity during internal
bleaching with the walking-bleach technique using
a mixture of 30% hydrogen peroxide with sodium
perborate as bleaching agent [107,108]. That was
also true for composite materials applied without
acid-etching technique when tested for provisional
seal of the access cavity [107]. The most favorable
results with respect to cavosurface seal during
internal bleaching were demonstrated for hydraulic
filling materials, such as Cavit and Coltosol [107].

Penetration of the pulp chamber by

bleaching agents in restored teeth
It was observed that during external bleaching with
30% hydrogen peroxide or 10 35% carbamide
peroxide gel higher levels of hydrogen peroxide
penetrated into the pulp chamber in teeth with
restorations placed in enamel as compared to sound
teeth [109,110]. This was true for restorations
fabricated with either composite materials, polyacid-modified composite resins or resin-modified
glass ionomer cements. Furthermore, it was shown
that higher concentrated carbamide peroxide gels
(35%) lead to distinct higher levels of peroxide in
the pulp chamber compared to low (10%) concentrated gels [111].

Clinical consequences of the impact

of bleaching agents on restorations
The above mentioned studies underline that
pre- and post-operative bleaching procedures may
negatively affect marginal seal of restorations.
Moreover, restorations and margins of restorations
could be regarded as a possible pathway facilitating

T. Attin et al.

peroxide penetration into the pulp chamber.

Peroxide penetration into the pulp chamber is
held responsible for pulpal reactions, such as
increase in tooth hypersensitivity, during external
bleaching of vital teeth [112,113]. Dentists should
therefore examine restorations meticulously before
starting a bleaching therapy and renew insufficient
fillings prior to bleaching in order to achieve an
optimal seal of the pulp chamber and thus reducing
the risk of adverse effects. Future studies must
investigate how far the higher rate of microleakage
observed in vitro lead to problems with existing
restorations in the clinical situation.

Conclusions
Bonding of adhesively attached restorations to prebleached dental hard tissue is significantly reduced.
Therefore, it is recommended to delay placement
of restorations after termination of bleaching
therapy for at least 1 3 weeks. Additionally,
bleaching therapies with hydrogen peroxide or
hydrogen peroxide releasing preparations may
have a negative effect on restorations and restorative materials as shown in numerous in vitro
investigations. It remains unclear in how far those
observations may result in significant deterioration
of restorations under clinical conditions. However,
there are no reports in the literature indicating that
bleaching may exert any negative impact on
existing restorations thereby requiring renewal of
the restorations. Nevertheless, further investigations are necessary to elucidate these aspect
more precisely.

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