Tetracycline Stains and No Money for Porcelain Veneers
Posted by writeradmin
When I was a kid I was given a medicine that turned my teeth brownish gray. A few years ago, I had some dental bonding done. It was okay. Nothing excellent, but it did cover my stains somewhat. Now they’re chipped and need to be replaced. I can’t afford porcelain veneers, which I know will be the better treatment. Has there been any improvements in ways to fix this without veneers, like with teeth whitening or something?
Brenda
Dear Brenda,
The stains that are on your teeth are known as tetracycline stains. While porcelain veneers are the absolute best way to mask them, this is not easy. It would take an expert cosmetic dentist. The challenge is to make the teeth opaque enough to cover the stains, but still translucent enough to look natural. Very few cosmetic dentists can pull this off, but there are some who can.
This is also why your dental bonding was just “okay.” You likely had a dentist who tried his or her best but was in over their head. When you have dental bonding done and it needs to be replaced, how you proceed will depend on the way your dental bonding was placed.
If your dentist left the enamel intact, then you can have it removed by someone who knows what they were doing. The bonding can be removed by special sandpaper disks. Some states allow a dental hygienist to do this, so if you are comfortable with that, then it can save you some money.
After the bonding is safely removed, you can do teeth whitening. It will take persistence to make a difference, but if you follow through, you can see a real improvement on your teeth. Make sure you do the take home whitening trays, not Zoom or laser whitening. It would take too many treatments to make this financially feasible.
Bear in mind, the longer you can wear the trays each day the better. If possible, wear them overnight. If you can’t, that is okay, but it will just take longer. In the meantime, you can save up for the porcelain veneers.
If, however, your dentist removed your enamel, then you can have someone smooth out the bonding, but the only real fix is replacement or porcelain veneers.
This blog is brought to you by Arnold, MD Dentist Dr. Meredith Esposito.