DEL.ICIO.USGEORGIA
$15M teeth-whitening company under fire from dentists
WhiteSmile says its kiosk services are not a case of practicing dentistry without license
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Jim Valentine and a business partner owned a struggling Atlanta golf shop when they watched a teeth whitening demonstration at a trade show.
“We saw an opportunity,” Valentine said. The business plan, he said, would offer a service with better results than over-the-counter whitening kits in drugstores, and cost about half the price of a treatment in a dentist’s office.
Phil Skinner/pskinner@ajc.com
After applying a whitening product to their teeth, customers sit under a cool blue light.
Phil Skinner/pskinner@ajc.com
Ira Laney, at a WhiteScience kiosk at North Point Mall in Alpharetta, said customers apply a product to their own teeth. The Georgia Dental Board argues it amounts to practicing dentistry without a license.
Phil Skinner/pskinner@ajc.com
Models of teeth show customers what kinds of results they can expect from the procedure.
Joined by a third partner, they formed WhiteSmileUSA in 2007. The Atlanta-based company rode the hot cosmetic trend to launch locations in more than 20 states, in malls, salons and retail stores, where customers after 30 minutes can walk away with a brighter smile.
But the WhiteSmile company and competitors have bumped into regulatory problems. Some state boards of dentistry, including Georgia’s, have moved against kiosk whitening, linking it to an unlicensed practice of dentistry.
WhiteSmile and at least one other Georgia-based company said they have been recently served “a voluntary cease-and-desist” letter from the Georgia Board of Dentistry. Thomas Godfrey, president of the state dental board, wrote in a February letter to Georgia’s secretary of state that several such orders have been issued in whitening cases. His letter cited “potential harm” to consumers.
The dentists’ opposition riles Valentine. “Ninety-five percent of this is dentists trying to protect their turf,” he said. Valentine also says WhiteSmile uses the same basic ingredient, hydrogen peroxide, that’s sold in whitening products in drugstores.
WhiteSmile staff doesn’t dispense dental advice and doesn’t even touch the customer during the process, Valentine said. The staff person hands customers a mold to bite into; then, after filling the mold with a peroxide gel, has customers put the mold in their mouths. They sit in a chair with a special light trained on their mouths for a 15-minute session.
But Richard Smith, an Atlanta dentist who has practiced for 35 years, said the mall kiosks may pose a risk to public safety. “They have no dental training,” Smith said. “I have deep reservations about the level of sterilization.”
The kiosks are designed to look like a dental facility, Smith added. “That can be very deceiving,” he said, adding, “Customers don’t know what’s going into their mouths.”
Van Haywood, a dentist and professor at the Medical College of Georgia, said teeth discoloration can represent decay or an abscess problem. “The key to this is getting a proper diagnosis,” Haywood said. The retail businesses, he said, are “totally unregulated.”
The cost of whitening, meanwhile, is what attracts many customers to retail outlets. Carolyn Bradley, 70, visited a WhiteSmile kiosk a year and a half ago at an Atlanta mall. “The price was right,” she said. “They did a wonderful job. They don’t touch your mouth — I thought that was important.”
WhiteSmile’s Valentine said, “We’ve had health inspectors visit us many times, and never had any issues from them on contamination.”
The company’s annual revenues have reached about $15 million, and it reports serving 75,000 customers since 2007. Prices range from $110 to $195, compared with up to $400 to $600 in a dentist’s office, Valentine said. But in an Alabama case involving WhiteSmileUSA, a court ruled recently that commercial whitening services fall within the scope of the practice of dentistry. Valentine said the company will appeal the decision.
Tennessee’s board in January ruled that teeth whitening formulations should be prescribed and dispensed by a licensed dentist, and can be applied by a licensed hygienist or assistant under a dentist’s supervision.
Ohio’s dental board, though, said that while it has concerns about the kiosk and salon businesses, “this activity is permissible so long as the consumer applies the whitening material to their own teeth, and no one else places their hands in the consumer’s mouth.”
A Roswell-based whitening business, WhiteScience, said it also has heard from the Georgia dental board. “It’s hypocritical that dentists aren’t upset by over-the-counter products that are applied at home,” said George Nelson, head of WhiteScience. He argues that whitening is less invasive than cosmetic counters at department stores applying makeup to customers.
The dental board president, Godfrey, did not return phone calls for comment last week. His letter to the Georgia secretary of state said the board will “take appropriate action against those who practice dentistry without a license.”
Valentine of WhiteSmile said such dental boards “are trying to retain their monopoly.”
“These large retailers wouldn’t let us stay if we were causing any harm to customers,” Valentine said.
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