complexes are disclosed in u s pat no 5 122 370 pvp h 2 0 2 is stable in an anhydrous environment by exposure to aqueous environments as in the oral cavity the whitening agent dissociates into individual species pvp polymer and h 2 0 2 the pvp h 2 0 2 complex is generally comprised of about 80 by weight polyvinyl pyrrolidone and 20 by weight h 2 0 2 nonionic surfactants which are compatible with peroxide compounds serve as a solubilizing dispersing emulsifing and wetting agents and are especially effective to solubilize a flavor if included in the liquid whitening composition a particularly useful nonionic surfactant is a water soluble polyoxyethylene monoester of sorbitol with a c10 to c18 fatty acid marketed commercial under the tween trademark the tween surfactants are mixtures of c10 to c18 fatty acid esters of sorbitol and sorbitol anhydrides consisting predominately of the monoester condensed with about 10 30 preferably about 20 moles of ethyleneoxide the fatty acid aliphatic hydrocarbonyl monocarboxylic acid may be saturated or unsaturated e g lauric palmitic stearic oleic acids polysorbate 20 e g tween 20 is especially preferred and is commonly referred to as polyoxyethylene 20 sorbitan monolaurate the nonionic surfactant constitutes about 0 to 50 by weight and preferably 0 5 to 40 by weight of the liquid composition flavoring agents that are useful include essential oils as well as.