The bleaching of discolored nonvital teeth is conservative treatment that satisfy the cosmetic desire. The most common method for this treatment, walking bleaching, is using 30% hydrogen peroxide and sodium perborate.

Many alternatives are suggested for preventing the external cervical root resorption that is the common complication of the nonvital teeth bleaching with 30% hydrogen peroxide.

The same extent of oxidation reactions as that resulted by the bleaching with the application of 30% hydrogen peroxide and sodium perborate can also be acquired more safely by materials that contain 10% carbamide peroxide, used primarily for the bleaching of vital teeth. Therefore, this study was performed to evaluate the efficacy of 10% and 15% carbamide peroxide bleaching gel in nonvatal teeth bleaching.

The internal bleaching of intentionally discolored teeth was performed in vitro with 10% carbamide peroxide (Group 1), 15% carbamide peroxide (Group 2), mixture of distilled water and sodium perborate (Group 3), and mixture of 30% hydrogen peroxide and sodium perborate (Group 4). The bleaching materials were refreshed following 3, 6, 9 and 12 days. To evaluate the bleaching effect, the color change of the crowns was measured at 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 and 15 days of bleaching using the colorimeter.

The results were as follows :

1. L* and ΔE* values were increased with time in all bleaching agents(p<0.01).

2. There was no significant difference in L* and ΔE* value among bleaching agents.

3. ΔE* value higher than 3 was shown after 3 days of bleaching with 10% carbamide peroxide gel, 1 day with 15% carbamide peroxide gel, 4 days with mixture sodium perborate and distilled water and 4 days with mixture sodium perborate and 30% hydrogen peroxide, respectively.

These results revealed that the use of 10% and 15% carbamide peroxide bleaching gel in non-vital teeth bleaching is as effective as mixture of distilled water and sodium perborate and mixture of 30% hydrogen peroxide and sodium perborate. Accordingly, carbamide peroxide could be used clinically to bleach discolored non-vital teeth.