I’ve had white spots on my two front teeth my whole life. I like how they look, but my other teeth are dingy in comparison. My dentist is suggesting Lumineers, but I think that is more than I am wanting to pay. Can I not just whiten my teeth without whitening the two front teeth?
Laurie
Dear Laurie,
Teeth whitening trays
I am glad you decided not to go with Lumineers. If all you want to do is whiten your teeth, that would be a massive, not to mention expensive, overtreatment. Additionally, Lumineers in particular are highly marketed to inexperienced cosmetic dentists. That is the last person you would want to have do a smile makeover for you. It takes significant post-doctoral training, not to mention an artistic eye, to do it well.
In your case, I would go with teeth whitening. However, teeth whitening works on teeth evenly. Ask your dentist to provide you with at-home bleaching trays. These should be custom fit to your bite. However, because of your two front teeth, you’ll want him or her to cut out the front teeth from the trays. This way the only thing being whitened are the teeth without the white spots.
For the benefit of others, I want to mention there is another type of white spots that takes a completely different treatment. If someone has white spots, they could have been there from childhood, as Laurie; but, often white spots appear after braces. These spots are different. They are decalcification spots, which are a precursor to tooth decay. Those who are wearing braces, often don’t realize how difficult it is to adequately brush around all those wires and brackets. This is why we recommend Invisalign whenever someone is a candidate. These are removable and make it super easy to upkeep your dental hygiene.
The solution for the type of white spots from braces, requires a skilled cosmetic dentist. The white spots have to be gently removed and then they can be recovered with composite bonding.
This blog is brought to you by East Cobb Dentist Dr. Cristi Cheek.