Indonesian Student Invents Dental Lightening Gel Using Strawberries

Yogyakarta (Antara Bali) - An Indonesian student of Gadjah Mada University, Onni Fitriani Solikhah, has invented dental lightening gel with neutral pH made from strawberries and baking soda named berrybleach.

"Berrybleach gel has been effectively proven to return the natural color of teeth," she said here on Tuesday.

She explained that strawberries contain elegant acid that is useful in the process of teeth color enlightenment.

Besides strawberries, the gel is also made from baking soda to make the process more effective.

"We combine these two ingredients and formulate into a teeth color lightening gel with neutral pH that is safe to use. Teeth whitening material should not be acidic as it can damage hard tissues of the teeth," Onni said.

She said today lifestyle that involves tobacco, tea, coffee, cigarettes and antibiotics can cause systemic teeth disease and change the color of the teeth.

It can be solved with bleaching treatments which are proven to be safe and not damage hard tissue of the teeth.

Berrybleach quality, according to her, is competitive with commercial dental lightening product with very small side effects.

"The result is equivalent with the factory-made teeth whitening gel. such side effects as tooth surface roughness has been proved minimal," Onni said.

She added that the bleaching process using chemicals such as hydrogen peroxide and carbamide peroxide can cause a variety of adverse side effects when they are used inappropriately.

Some side effects of chemicals in bleaching processes are sensitive and easy bleeding gums, taste disturbance on tongue, changes in the surface of the outermost layer of the teeth, and they can trigger carcinogenic effect or cancer-promoting factors.

"Berrybleach has no such impacts because it uses strawberries as basic ingredient," Oni added. (WDY)