Can Supersmile Remove Stains on Dental Bonding?

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Hi, I have dental bonding on a few teeth because of chips as well as between my two front teeth because of a small gap. They’re starting to stain and it looks weird next to my natural tooth color. Do you know if Supersmile toothpaste works on dental bonding? If so, how long does it take for it to remove the stains? I see they have an accelerator kit. I’m guessing that would be the one to use, right?

James

Dear James,

Supersmile tooth paste image

You have some great questions here. I’m actually going to start with your last question and work my way backward. I would not use the accelerator kit, but just the standard Supersmile Whitening Toothpaste. This is because the accelerator kit adds a whitening ingredient, such as you would get with teeth whitening kits, though not nearly as strong as what you’d get through a dentist. This will utilize a peroxide gel. While that will whiten your natural teeth some, it will do nothing for the bonding. The result will be them having a greater disparity than when you started.

Supersmile toothpaste, on the other hand, is great at removing stains, even from cosmetic dental work, with one exception we’ll get to in a moment. Your second question asked how long it will take the toothpaste to remove the stains. As long as it is a surface stain, it will begin to remove it immediately. This is because, unlike other whitening toothpaste, it removes the stain enzymatically. Its active ingredient is Calprox, which dissolves the protein pellicle layer. Stains attach themselves to the pellicle so when that is gone, the stain is gone.

As for your first question, that depends on the type of stains. As long as your dental bonding is still polished and the stains are on the surface of the polish, then, yes, Supersmile can totally remove those stains. However, if the polish is gone, then Supersmile cannot restore the polish and the bonding will just keep attracting stains. The only way to fix that is to have the polishing repaired or to replace the bonding.

This is one of the reasons I steer patients away from your typical whitening toothpaste. They use abrasives to “whiten” teeth, which damages both the dental bonding as well as the enamel on the surface of your natural teeth.

This blog is brought to you by East Cobb Dentist Dr. Cristi Cheek.

Will Supersmile Toothpaste Let Me Drink Coffee with My Dental Bonding?

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I had dental bonding done a few weeks ago to close a tooth gap. It started staining, which makes the gap repair look really ugly next to my natural color. I think it is because I drink coffee. However, my dentist did not tell me to stay away from any food or beverages. I read that Supersmile Toothpaste can take surface stains off of dental work, such as the bonding I have. What I am wanting to know is whether using this tooth paste will always remove the coffee stains or if I need to give up drinking it?

Dana

Dear Dana,

A side by side image of teeth before and after dental bonding

While it is true that dental bonding is more vulnerable to staining than your natural teeth or porcelain veneers, it should not be staining in just a few weeks. My guess is that you had this bonding done with your general family dentist rather than someone with more post-doctoral training in cosmetic dentistry. This is not a recognized specialty so it is up to the dentist how much, if any, post-doctoral training they invest in to gain some expertise.

Dental bonding is made from composite, which is a blend of plastic resin and inorganic fillers. There are differences in bonding and how vulnerable it is to staining based on the types of fillers used.

Hybrid composites are stronger but cannot be polished to the shine that you want because of the size of the particles. Microfills can be polished to a high luster but are not nearly as strong. Most general dentists just keep the general purpose hybrids, which serves them well for the type of procedures that they normally do.

If you were to go with an expert cosmetic dentist they would combine the two. They’d start with the hybrid on the interior for the strength and then add the microfills for the high luster. this gives you the best of both worlds.

I suggest you go back to your dentist and share what you’ve learned here. Hopefully, he’ll be willing to redo the dental bonding so that it will hold up better cosmetically for you. If your dentist can’t do that, then you can go to another dentist to get it done. If you have the funds, getting two porcelain veneers would last much longer than the bonding, which will have to be replaced every few years. Plus, they are even more stain resistant than your natural teeth.

I hope this helps.
This blog is brought to you by East Cobb Cosmetic Dentist Dr. Cristi Cheek.

How Can I Get My Porcelain Veneers White Again?

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When I first got my porcelain veneers they were really white. Lately, they’ve been picking up my coffee stains. I don’t want to give up coffee, but I’d like to get them as white as they were again. I know that over the counter whitening won’t work, because I tried it, but would the whitening from my dentist work?

Greta

Dear Greta,

A porcelain veneer being held up to a tooth

I am glad you wrote. How you handle this will depend on the reason for the stains. The glaze on your porcelain veneers is extremely stain resistant. In fact, they are more stain resistant than even your natural teeth. This would repel even coffee stains, except maybe for temporary surface stains. The solution to that would be to get Supersmile toothpaste. This uses a chemical enzyme which safely removes surface stains from both natural teeth and cosmetic dental work. Never use the type of whitening toothpastes that are commonly sold. Most of them contain abrasives that will damage both your natural teeth and your dental work.

However, if the glaze has been removed from your porcelain veneers, this will not work. Unfortnately, neither will teeth whitening, which only works on natural tooth structure. There are a few things that can damage the glazing on your porcelain veneers. Two of them can happen at your dentist’s office, so I will start with those.
1. The use of a Power Prophy Jet. Don’t allow your hygienist to use this on your cosmetic work, or even dental crowns. This will completely remove the glazing on your dental work and it will not take long for the veneers to pick up stains.
2. Acidulated fluoride. This won’t completely remove the glaze, but will etch it, giving you pockets of stains.

One thing you can do that will damage the veneers is using the type of whitening toothpastes that are commonly sold. Most of them contain abrasives that will damage both your natural teeth and your dental work.

If the glazing has been removed or damaged you have a couple of options. The first is to replace them. If your dentist damaged them because of one of the things mentioned above they should help with that cost. A second option is to see an expert cosmetic dentist who has the skills and equipment to polish them back to their original shine. It will not be the same as the glaze, but it will remove the stains as well as help them to avoid stains a bit better. From there, Supersmile toothpaste will really help keep the stains off.

This blog is brought to you by East Cobb Dentist Dr. Cristi Cheek.

Is Taking Tetracycline as An Adult Bad for Your Teeth?

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My doctor has me on tetracycline for acne. My dentist recently noticed the brownish lines on the back of my teeth. My mother thinks these might be from the tetracycline. Is this medicine bad for my teeth? Is there a way to get rid of the stains?

Maggie

Dear Maggie,

Smile with tetracycline stained teeth.

 

You did not mention how old you are, so I am not going to make any assumptions. Generally, tetracycline only stains your teeth if they are still forming. So, if you are over thirteen years of age (and your writing certainly indicates that) then it is unlikely that tetracycline is the culprit. That being said, there is one study that did indicate a specific variety of tetracycline, called minocycline, can stain adult teeth after they are formed. That would be the first thing I would check.

A great toothpaste to help remove surface stains is Supersmile toothpaste. Please don’t try and use any other over-the-counter whitening toothpaste that you can get. They use abrasives to scrub off stains. While it will make your teeth temporarily whiter, the abrasives damage your enamel and make it much easier for them to pick up stains.

If these are true tetracycline stains, and you are in the early stages, you can try teeth whitening, but you will have to be persistent with it. Other than that, you would have to fix them by covering them with porcelain veneers, though veneers do not go on the back of teeth.

This blog is brought to you by Marietta Dentist Dr. Cristi Cheek.
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