Getting your teeth bleached at the mall may seem like a novel idea, but the state's board of dental examiners is meeting today to determine whether the practice is legal.

Recently businesses that offer teeth whitening products have opened kiosks in shopping centers throughout the state, including Raleigh's Triangle Town Center and Crabtree Valley Mall.

Many not only sell the products but offer customers the opportunity to use them right there in the mall.

Shoppers like them because they are convenient and cheap -- usually about $100 instead of the $500 or $600 charged at a dentist's office.

But regulators and dentists have raised concerns about the safety of such practices, because a dentist is not supervising.

"If a patient has a cavity or if they have some kind of recess where a part of the root was exposed, if you place some of these beaching solutions on there, it could potentially cause some concerns," said M. Alec Parker, executive director of the N.C. Dental Society, which is based in Cary and is an association of 3,300 dentists statewide.

State officials say the question that needs to be answered is whether the people at the kiosks are technically performing dental work. That's what they're discussing in a two-day meeting that adjourns today.

"If a person is practicing dentistry without a license, that's a misdemeanor," said Bobby White, chief operations officer of the state board of dental examiners. "We will be looking at this very carefully."

If the dental board determines that the businesses are practicing dentistry without a license, the issue would then be turned over to the district attorney for enforcement, White said.

The businesses now seem to fall into a gray area of regulation.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is studying whether all over-the-counter whitening products -- both the ones sold by these companies and the ones sold in stores -- should be classified as cosmetics or drugs.

At the two businesses operating in the Triangle -- iBrite Express and BleachBright -- customers are asked to place the whitening products or trays in their mouths themselves to ensure that employees are not perceived as performing dental work.

"We don't try to portray ourselves as dentists," said Ashley Braddock, a BleachBright technician at Crabtree Valley Mall.

"We don't put our hands in their mouth. If they ask a question, and we don't know the answer, we tell them we don't know and tell them to ask their dentist."

Joyce Whitlock of Raleigh wasn't bothered by the absence of a dentist at the kiosk.

"For this? No," said Whitlock, who had the procedure done at BleachBright in Crabtree Valley Mall on Friday.

"There's no danger in it," said her husband, Philip Whitlock, who treated his wife to the $99 treatment.

Afterward, Joyce Whitlock said she was pleased with the results. "I see a difference. They're lighter."

C.W. Baudot, CEO of New Orleans-based BleachBright, said the procedure is cosmetic, and the products are similar to kits sold in stores nationwide.

Baudot said a special light is used to activate the chemicals, making the treatment quicker and more effective than those done at home. That's why the mall treatments cost about $100 while over-the-counter kits cost half that, he said.

Jerry Mclaughlin, a dentist who works with iBrite to develop the California company's products, said the kiosk treatments are not as concentrated as those offered in dentists' offices.

"The dentist has to paint on these materials," he said. The kiosk whitening is "not as good as what you can get in the dental office. Anyone who professes it is is mistaken."

Baudot said customers are asked to sign a waiver that advises them to consult a dentist before having a whitening procedure done. It also advises against the procedure if they have tooth decay, tooth sensitivity or a myriad of other health concerns.

"We certainly don't want to injure anybody," he said. "If people have sensitivity, they need to tell us. If they have any allergies, they need to tell us."

But Parker of the Dental Society said people should think carefully before opting for a cheaper do-it-yourself option.

"It's one of those things where maybe 90 percent of the population isn't going to have any kind of side effects," he said. "But I think there is a group of the population that is going to potentially have some kind of adverse or unwanted outcome."

(Staff writer Vicki Parker contributed to this report.)

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