The subject pretty much sums it up. At the recommendation of the dental hygienists at our pediatric dental office, we bought Crest Pro Health Rinse for our kids, especially the older one, who got a poor score on the last visit. True to form, The Boy hasn’t been very good about using it, but The La has been very conscientious, using it every night for the past month or so. This past week, we noticed brown staining near the gums on several of her teeth. It looks terrible and since I’m the one who typically brushes her teeth, I felt really bad and started to worry about what was going wrong.
Well, The Wife googled about teeth staining and, lo and behold, there’s tons of comments on several sites about Crest Pro Health staining people’s teeth brown and causing some to lose their sense of taste, including an Amazon product page. I also found this snarky, but spot on editorial and this article.
I e-mailed Proctor and Gamble this morning and they responded within an hour or two with this message:
Thanks for contacting us, Tim.
I’m sorry about your daughter’s recent experience while using Crest Pro Health Rinse. Some people who use an antimicrobial product such as Crest Pro Health, may experience some tooth discoloration. This is true especially among those people who experience a lot of tartar. Unlike stains due to smoking or beverages which can discolor the entire tooth, antimicrobial tooth discoloration can occur in hard to brush areas like between the teeth and at the gumline. This type of staining is only temporary and on the surface of the tooth. This temporary tooth staining can be reduced or eliminated by using a power brush and a tartar control or whitening toothpaste. I’m sending you some free coupons for other Crest products. Watch for my postal reply to arrive within 2-3 weeks.
Meanwhile, to help us understand your daughter’s experience, we would like to request some additional information. We will share your information with our Health and Safety Team who will follow-up with you regarding your dental expenses.
For answers to medical questions, we recommend you speak with your dentist who will be able to give you the best advice.
Thanks again for getting in touch.
Amy
Crest Team
I love how the main thrust of their response is to buy more of their products and that they readily acknowledge that Crest Pro Health will stain your teeth brown. Of course, if they did The Right Thing™ and warned you about it on the bottle, they’d lose sales, so there’s no chance of them doing that. I contacted our dentist’s office and the person that I spoke with on the phone hadn’t heard of the brown staining problem. We’ve already got an appointment for a regular cleaning next Wednesday, so I’ll report back with what they say. I’m also going to add photos to this post tonight.
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yikes. i had an unopened bottle of this rinse in the bathrooom. after reading your post, i checked the bottle, and there is not a thing on the package regarding potential stains as a side effect. i thru my bottle out!
hmmm…contrary to what people are saying, i’ve used 2 entire bottles of Crest Pro Health rinse (with the Pro Health toothpaste) and have had no such ill effects whatsoever. maybe consider myself lucky?
Hi – I’m wondering if you do have those pictures you were talking about. I’m doing a story on this issue and am looking for any visuals I can find… Thank you
Sorry, contrary to what I said, I never took pictures. The staining did go away without too much trouble once we discontinued use. I still think there should be a warning or something. It’s not like it’ll disfigure you for life, but it’s still a little scary when it happens and you’re not sure of the cause.
I see the email address isn’t shown. If anyone does have pictures or video of Crest Pro Health Rinse staining, please contact me at phupe@kovr.com. Thanks…
Ive been using this product for a while now (2 weeks) and I have seen no discoloration but a whiting of my teeth along with a a cleaner feel to my mouth. I think the main point is if you already have tarter build up you get this side effect so floss your teeth and dont expect a mouth rinse to do it all for you.
I used Crest Mouthwash for a month. It was my family that noticed that my teeth were looking brown. I have brown spots on my front middle teeth and on other teeth. I have quit using all Crest products. Ironically, I bought the Crest mouthwash because it was less expensive than the brand my doctor recommended. Now I am paying for it. I have an appointment with my dentist to see what I can do to restore my teeth back to white. I suppose I will need to do the expensive whitening process.
After using one bottle of Crest Pro Health, my front top 4 teeth have brown stains. I have excellent oral hygiene. An internet search reveals that Consumer Reports and NBC’s Today show warned consumers about brown staining from this rinse. P & G maintains that very few people are affected, but 3 of 4 dentists I know have had patients come in with brown stains from it.