Stained natural teeth can often be corrected with a professional teeth-whitening session at your cosmetic dentistry office. The teeth whitening procedure doesn't work on artificial tooth materials such as crowns, veneers, or dental bonds. The lack of whitening ability is only a problem for certain dental correction materials and if you are prone to teeth staining.
Which dental correction materials are best to avoid the look of stained teeth?
Best: Porcelain Crowns or Veneers
Dental crowns are artificial shells that fit down around the entire outside of your natural tooth. They are often used to cover large cracks or chips. Crowns can also be used when intrinsic staining under the enamel won't lighten using whitening procedures.
Veneers work in a similar way except they only cover the very front face of the tooth to provide cosmetic reshaping for your smile. Crowns are available in a wide range of materials but both crowns and veneers made in porcelain are better bets if you have stain-prone teeth.
Porcelain has a glassy surface that allows most of the staining substance, such as red wine or coffee, to slide right off the surface of the material. You still need to practice proper oral healthcare to further minimize staining risks and to keep bacteria at bay.
There are a couple of catches with these porcelain correction materials. Both require a bonding agent between the porcelain layer and the tooth. This bonding agent can become stained easier than the porcelain, which can cause a problem if the bonding shows at all around the edges. And porcelain isn't the strongest dental crown material available even when paired with a metal backing. So a porcelain crown might not work for a tooth that takes on a lot of bite force.
Worst: Resin Bonds
Dental bonds involve the cosmetic dentist using a malleable composite resin material to mold a new tooth shape directly onto the existing tooth. The resin is then hardened with a special light.
The composite resin used makes bonds versatile and faster to apply than veneers. But the resin isn't stain-resistant like the porcelain veneers. So if teeth staining is a recurring issue that you know will continue in the future, you might want to skip over bonds and opt for a porcelain veneer or crown.
If your dentist does feel a bond would be your best option, commit yourself to increased oral hygiene that includes brushing your teeth after you consume any potentially staining food or drink. Contact a local dentist, like Bonnie Marshall S, for more information.
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