Getting the Shine and Color Back in My Dental Crown
I had a crown placed on a lateral incisor. It was fine for the first seven months. Now, it has lost its shine and has started to pick up stains. I was hoping to get it back the way it was. Will teeth whitening take care of the color and shine or will I need a separate procedure for each thing?
Callie Anne
Dear Callie Anne,
I am sorry this happened to you. Unfortunately, teeth whitening will do neither of the things you are hoping for. It only works on natural tooth structure so it won’t do anything for your porcelain crown. What protects a dental crown from stains and also gives it that shine is the protective glaze placed on it. It sounds like something removed yours.
Given the timing you mentioned, that was enough time for you to have a dental cleaning. If you did, I suspect that your dental hygienist may have used something like a power prophy jet or acidulated fluoride during your appointment. The first will remove your glazing entirely. The second will etch it which could make it look more dull and cause it to pick up stains as well, just not as quickly.
If your hygienist did that, then I would say they need to bear the responsibility to replace your dental crown and the dentist will need to do some training with his staff on protecting dental work.
If that is not what happened, I would make sure you are not using anything like a whitening toothpaste. Almost all of these “whiten” your teeth by using an abrasive, which damages both the glazing on your crown as well as your natural tooth enamel. The only whitening toothpaste I know of that is safe for dental work is Supersmile toothpaste.
No matter what the cause, the solution would be to replace the dental crown. It’s only been seven months, so I do think the dentist should take this.
This blog is brought to you by Douglas, AZ Dentist Dr. Gilberto Tostado.
Read More...Do I Have to Quit Smoking with Porcelain Veneers?
I went to see my dentist because I was interested in getting a smile makeover. He suggested I get porcelain veneers but told me that I will want to quit smoking so I don’t stain them. I felt like someone had stuck a pin in the balloon that carried my dream. I was a little confused as well because a friend of mine has porcelain veneers and she smokes. Do you know if there are different brands that work with smoking?
Carolyn
Dear Carolyn,
I am glad that you wrote. I can understand your confusion. Why is it your friend can smoke with porcelain veneers but not you? The truth is, you can. I am not sure why your dentist said that. In fact, porcelain veneers are more stain resistant than your natural teeth. One thing that smoking will do is stain the edges where the bond meets the tooth. There is a way for your dentist to polish those up as a part of regular maintenance.
I wonder if your dentist is not very comfortable doing porcelain veneers. He may have used the smoking thing as a way to discourage you from a procedure that is not in his wheelhouse. I would look for a different dentist to do you smile makeover. It is quite common for a person to have a dentist for general dental work and a dentist for cosmetic work. You will have better results from someone who does a lot of cosmetic work. In fact, I would ask to see some before and after pictures of work they’ve done so you can make sure they get decent results.
A step you can take is to brush your teeth with Supersmile Toothpaste. Unlike other whitening toothpastes that damage your teeth with abrasives (something you definitely do not want to do with your smile makeover), it uses a protein pelicle to safely remove surface stains from your dental work.
I hope this helps.
This blog is brought to you by Douglas, AZ Dentist Dr. Gilberto Tostado.