Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I plan to conduct a project on the effect of various teeth whitening products. (trays, strips, toothpaste, rinse). Instead of using teeth, I was hoping to use a different medium. Any suggestions? Also I was planning on staining the medium and then treating the medium for 30 days with the various products. I would use a visual white chart for comparison. Will this work?

This sounds like a wonderful science project for you. One medium that you may be able to use in place of teeth in your experiment is a hard boiled egg. The egg shell stains fairly readily (you can soak it overnight or longer in soda or coffee, for example) and can be cleaned with whitening agents. Alternatively, if you want to try this on actual teeth, you may be able to acquire some from a dentist if you ask and tell him that it is for a science project. You may also be able to get an "official" tooth stain chart from the dentist to compare your stains to. Overall, it sounds like you have a great plan.

Good luck and tell us how it goes!

Hello dpolito5+, welcome to Science Buddies.

After doing some research I found that porcelain is often used instead of enamel when making parts for teeth (veneers, crowns, bridges etc.). Like the previous expert said, you will need to stain your material in order to conduct your experiment. Porcelain clay can be stained with any stain from the hardware store.

Dont forget. You have to have a control variable, so make sure you leave one peice white and then start to create darker peices. If you have anymore questions on how to conduct the experiment please respond and more experts can help you and give more feedback.

Thanks!