Ivy from Brisbane, Australia, wrote last week about using Lumineers to cover her stained teeth. She then followed up with a question about how to bleach those stained teeth when she was having teeth bleaching sensitivity issues. Here is Ivy’s appreciative response:
HUGEST thank you ever so much! This has been extremely helpful. I cannot begin to explain how appreciative I am.
Have a wonderful day.
- Ivy from Brisbane, Australia
Last week, we fielded a question from Ivy in Brisbane, Australia, who was asking about having Lumineers to cover her teeth stains. Here is a follow-up comment from her and a question:
Thank you so much for your time. You have truly provided me with the most valuable information thus far.
Yes,the shape of my teeth I am happy with. By conventional bleaching I mean take home trays from my dentist using Night White bleach.
However, I experience sensitivity, (I m only able to use this for 1-1.5 hrs at a time) and am not happy with the shade of white achievable.
Any recommendations as to how I can achieve a whiter smile?
- Ivy from Brisbane, Australia
Ivy,
There are two ways for you to get better results with your teeth bleaching.
One would be to find a dentist who knows how to deal with the sensitivity issue.
I checked websites of cosmetic dentists in Brisbane, to try to find someone who knows what they are doing, and of the first few I looked at, I was most impressed with Dr. —–. I don’t know about his artistic skill, and there are some procedures that he is advocating that give mediocre smile makeovers, but he seems to at least be knowledgeable, by the memberships he maintains and where he has trained. There are ways to deal with this sensitivity issue – different bleaching gels, pre-treating the teeth to make them less sensitive, etc. That is one route.
The other would be to just work around your sensitivity. If you can wear the tray with the gel for 1 to 1 1/2 hours at a time, that really isn’t that bad. And what you would do would be to just keep on going. The longer you go, the whiter your teeth will get. If you have the persistence to stay with it, I’d keep doing that for a month or two – whatever you need to do until your teeth are the whiteness you want. I’d suggest overshooting the mark by a little bit, because there is a little relapse that occurs in the first week after you stop bleaching.
This blog sponsored by Colorado Springs cosmetic dentist Dr. Joseph Rota.
I have had Invisalign to correct mild crowding of my front lower teeth and am happy with the position of my teeth,I have no caries or fillings and no gum disease. I am however unhappy with the mild discoloration/yellowing which has occured over time and am not satisfied with the result of conventional whitening methods, so I am exploring lumineers or composite veneers to attain a permanently brighter and whiter smile. How will my orthodontic treatment be affected by veneers? Which of these two methods would you consider more favourable?? I appreciate your time and look forward to hearing from you.
Kindest Regards,
Ivy from Brisbane, Australia
Ivy,
I’m not sure what you mean by “conventional whitening methods.” Maybe what you need then are unconventional whitening methods because it’s whitening that would be the correct treatment for your situation.
Here’s how I analyze your situation.
You are happy with the alignment of your teeth. You didn’t say anything about their shapes, so I’ll assume you’re happy with that. What you’re unhappy with is the color, and you speak of the color as “mild discoloration/yellowing which has occured over time.” Effective professional bleaching techniques are excellent at removing acquired stains and they even go beyond that and whiten the natural color of your tooth beyond their original whiteness, similar to what happens when someone bleaches their hair. The only stain they have trouble with is tetracycline stain, which is extremely dark and is structurally embedded in the dentin of the teeth. But there are new bleaching methods that even work very well for tetracycline stains now.
I would strongly caution you about doing direct dental bonding or Lumineers if the only problem you have is with these acquired stains. Lumineers is a brand of porcelain veneers that is typically done without any tooth preparation, meaning that they will tend to make your teeth bulky and they will add about 2 millimeters of length to your teeth. Also, the laboratory that fabricates the Lumineers is not the best esthetic dentistry laboratory and the teeth tend to come out looking pasty and fake.
Bonding requires a true artist to do it correctly, and I’m not sure, even if you were to travel to Brisbane, if you could find a dentist artistic enough to do a good job for you with this. And even if it is done well, it is quite expensive and is fairly susceptible to scratching, dulling, and staining. There are some excellent cosmetic dentists in Melbourne. But again, if you like the alignment and the shape of the teeth, bleaching is the treatment of choice.
Neither of these treatments should affect the alignment of your teeth if they are done only on the upper teeth, but they could if they are done on the lower if they aren’t done correctly.
My recommendation would be to find a dentist with more expertise in cosmetic dentistry who is more familiar with some of the stronger teeth bleaching techniques. Any acquired stain should be able to be removed by bleaching that is properly done.
This blog is sponsored by Colorado Springs cosmetic dentist Dr. Joseph Rota.
Read a follow-up question from Ivy, and the answer about teeth sensitivity while bleaching.
I’ve heard about Supersmile toothpaste and that it’s good for stains on teeth. How does it work on tetracycline stains. If it helps, I want to buy some.
- Jeff from Arizona
Jeff,
Supersmile won’t have any effect on tetracycline stains, because those stains are embedded in the teeth. The tetracycline antibiotic, if it is taken while the permanent teeth are forming, will deposit in those teeth and cause a brown or gray stain that is deeply embedded in the teeth. Supersmile removes other surface stains by dissolving away the protein pellicle that the stains attach to. So it is great for tobacco stains, Peridex stains, and other similar stains.
Tetracyline stains are one discoloration, also, that doesn’t respond well to Zoom whitening or bleaching. Bleaching will lighten them a little, but not a lot. They are best treated by covering them with porcelain veneers. Even then you need to be careful to have this done by a highly experienced cosmetic dentist, or the results could be very disappointing. Dentists who try this without a lot of experience tend to make the porcelain veneers too translucent, and the dark brown or gray shows through.