Cosmetic Dentistry Blog at My Dentist USA

Can Teeth Whitening Become an Addiction?

What Motivates Overuse?

For some, it's a narcissistic compulsion to maintain their youth, analogous to going for repeated plastic surgery, says Richard Frances, MD, an addiction expert and a clinical professor of psychiatry at New York University Medical School. "People are obsessed with the idea of perfecting their bodies and warding off the effects of age," he says.

Matthew Messina, DDS, a dentist in private practice in Cleveland and a spokesman for the American Dental Association, says television makeover programs have had a tremendous influence in making people see how an investment in their smile was also an investment in self-confidence. But this awareness, he says, "can be obsessive if we become hyperfixated."

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Labels: articles, Teeth Whitening

 

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