Will Teeth Whitening Damage My Porcelain Veneers?
Posted by writeradmin
I had four porcelain veneers placed on my teeth. Over the last year, while my veneered teeth are fine, the teeth that do not have veneers are not. They have picked up a lot of stains. They was always a slight difference between my natural teeth and the veneers, but now it is much worse. Is there a way, if I used something like Crest Whitestrips, it could whiten those teeth without damaging the porcelain veneers?
Katrina
Dear Katrina,
It is a shame that your dentist did not have you whiten your teeth before placing your porcelain veneers knowing ahead of time that he or she did not provide you with enough veneers to cover all the teeth which are visible when you smile. That is standard procedure. Most smiles are eight to ten teeth wide. When you cannot have the number you need, the first step is teeth whitening. This way your adjacent teeth will blend in with your veneers.
The good news is that teeth whitening will not harm your veneers. I do not think that Crest Whitestrips are going to be your best option. First, while they do work, they are quite weak. It would take quite a few boxes to make even a little progress. Second, the whitestrips will only cover the front four to six teeth. At the most, that means that only one of the adjacent teeth on either side would get any whitening, unless you want to use two strips one on each side of the veneers.
A better option would be to have professional teeth whitening done. Your dentist can even form the whitening trays in a way that it goes around the veneered teeth. This will give you the strongest whitening possible in a safe manner, getting your teeth to look uniform in the best way possible.
This blog is brought to you by Arnold, MD Cosmetic Dentist Dr. Michelle Esposito.