Objective: The purpose in this study was to analyze in the literature whether toothbrushing with charcoal-based products promotes a whitening effect. Methodology: An integrative literature review was carried out in the PubMed/MEDLINE database, which had as its guiding question: Does brushing with activated charcoal-based products have a whitening effect on the tooth? The search strategy was performed through the use of terms (charcoal AND “dentifrice OR toothpaste OR toothbrushing” AND “bleaching OR whitening” AND tooth), and only articles published in English in any period were included. Result: From a total of 34 scientific articles identified, 6 articles were included in the study, between the years 2019 and 2021. According to the evidence, three articles did not observe an advantage in performing brushing with activated charcoal-based products and another three observed a slight whitening effect, generally inferior when compared to other whitening agents. In addition, most articles recommend attention to the use of these products for oral hygiene containing charcoal, since many of these studies observed an increase on the roughness of tooth enamel, which is directly related to the inherent abrasiveness of each product and which depends on the source and the methods used to prepare and mill charcoal. Conclusion: From the studies analyzed so far, it is observed that brushing products based on activated charcoal have few effectiveness of tooth whitening, often lower when compared to other abrasive agents present in whitening dentifrices.
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