I have had white spots on the bottoms of my front teeth since I was a child. They have always bothered me and I am finally in a position to do something about them. However, my dentist insists because my teeth are healthy I should leave them alone. Her exact words were, “Why mess with something that is not broken?” But, the teeth make me embarrassed. I was thinking about teeth whitening as an option but I need an opinion as to whether that will work or not.

Christine

Dear Christine,

 

I am glad you wrote. While your dentist meant well, the don’t fix what isn’t broke attitude is more the engineering mindset of a general dentist than what you would get from a cosmetic dentist. If it bothers you, then it is worth fixing. However, teeth whitening is not the solution.

Whitening is a great way to give yourself an inexpensive smile makeover. It can make you look years younger. However, it is not the solution for the white spots you are dealing with. Because teeth whitening whitens your teeth evenly, it will only serve to make the white spots even more noticeable.

What you will need is to have some dental bonding done. This procedure is remarkable at fixing chipped teeth, gaps in teeth, as well as evening out color, such what you are dealing with. The dentist will gently remove the surface where the white spots are and then fill in the area with composite bonding material that can blend in naturally with the remainder of the tooth surface.

The one catch here is that you need a skilled cosmetic dentist to do the work, which is done freehand. Your dentist will not be qualified to do this. I would go to another dentist for that procedure. Once your dental bonding is done, you can return to her for all your general dental work.

To make sure you get a dentist that can do this well, I recommend you look at their smile gallery. This is an online brag book of sorts with before and after pictures of cases they’ve actually done. If they don’t have a smile gallery, they do not do quality cosmetic work.

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