X
Patients Call: 847-884-8484

Can I Whiten Teeth With Fillings?

Posted on by .

I have loads of composite fillings and a few amalgam fillings. I would like to whiten my teeth, but wondered if that is possible with all the fillings? On a separate note, would it be possible to switch out the amalgam fillings? If so, should I do that before or after the whitening?

Brittney

Dear Brittney,

before and after mercury free fillings

Let’s start with the amalgam fillings. You can switch them out. However, it requires a special procedure to ensure you don’t swallow or inhale any mercury or mercury vapors. I would only do that with a mercury-free dentist who knows how to do a sanitary amalgam removal. Mercury is toxic so you do not want to risk any ingestion.

If the amalgam fillings are leaky, I would switch them out before getting your teeth whitened. Otherwise, the teeth will be sensitive during the teeth whitening. If they are not leaky, you can do it either way.

Teeth whitening will not impact your fillings. However, it will not whiten them either. If any of them are visible, you will want to do the whitening first, and then have the composite filling replaced afterward to match the new whiter color. Just be certain to give it a week or two between the whitening and the replacement so the color has time to settle.

This blog is brought to you by Hoffman Estates Dentist Dr. William Becker.

Tetracycline Stains and no Money for Porcelain Veneers

Posted on by .

I have tetracycline stains. Years ago, I invested in dental bonding to make them look better. They were massively expensive and, while my teeth looked better, I always thought given the price I should have liked them more.  The bonding is now stained and chipping. I know it needs to be replaced but I can’t afford that or porcelain veneers, which I now know would have been the better treatment. Is there any other option for me, like teeth whitening, that can at least brighten the teeth?

Carol

Dear Carol,

teeth bleaching trays

Teeth Bleaching Trays

I am very glad you wrote. There are a few things going on here. If you had dental bonding to cover all of your tooth structure, then that would have cost at least (and very likely more) than porcelain veneers. This is because bonding has to be done freehand and is very time-consuming. Unfortunately, as you’ve discovered, even though the cost was high for you, dental bonding does not last nearly as long as porcelain veneers. I wish your dentist would have told you this. To make matters worse for you, he didn’t even give you a beautiful result.

For those who don’t know, tetracycline stains develop when a child is given the tetracycline medication while their teeth are still forming. They are dark and extraordinarily difficult to deal with. See the image directly below.

tetracycline stained teeth

Tetracycline Stained Teeth

 

If you can’t afford porcelain veneers, it is possible to make a difference with teeth whitening, with some caveats. First, teeth whitening does NOT work on dental bonding. It will only whiten natural tooth structure. That means the first thing you’ll need to determine is how your dentist approached your dental bonding procedure.

  1. If your dentist placed your bonding over intact enamel, you will need to have your dentist gently remove the bonding from the tooth with sandpaper disks. He needs to be careful to leave the enamel intact. Once the bonding material is removed, your dentist will need to set you up with some teeth whitening trays, such as the ones pictured at the top of this post. You will also need the strongest whitening gel available that you can tolerate to use with the trays. If you are persistent enough and wear them for several months your teeth will get lighter. They will not be as white and bright as they would with porcelain veneers, but it will be a definite improvement.
  2. Unfortunately, if your dentist removed your enamel, there is no way to whiten your teeth as a solution. The only thing to do is start saving up for porcelain veneers. In the meantime, you could have someone even out the bonding and polish it up a bit.

One word of warning if you can do the teeth whitening. You will want to do the tray only. Don’t let your dentist talk you into anything like Zoom Whitening or Laser Whitening. Yes, they are stronger than the trays, but the number of procedures you would have to do to get the results you want would not be cost-effective. It will be much more affordable to do it with the trays.

This blog is brought to you by Hoffman Estates Dentist Dr. William Becker.

 

Brown Spots on Teeth

Posted on by .

I’ve had some brown spots on my two front teeth since my adult teeth came in. They say it had something to do with a fever when I was younger. I don’t really care what happened, but I wanted to get a beautiful smile. My dentist and I started with over-the-counter teeth whitening, but that didn’t work. It makes the area around the spots whiter, which makes the spots look darker. She is now discussing grinding the brown spots until they’re gone but doesn’t know how much she’ll need to remove. Before I do something so drastic, do you think professional teeth whitening would work? I know it is stronger.

Lacey

Dear Lacey,

A porcelain veneer

Porcelain Veneers

First, I want you to know that you can have a beautiful smile, but it will not be with this dentist. I want you to stop letting her experiment on your teeth. She can do irreparable damage. In your situation, professional teeth whitening will not be a good solution. Teeth whitening works on your teeth evenly. The results will be similar to what you saw with your over-the-counter tries. It will make the brown spots more obvious.

What you need is to find a cosmetic dentist with experience in microabrasion and dental bonding. Don’t let your current dentist do this. She may have good intentions, but teeth whitening is hands down the simplest cosmetic procedure and she doesn’t understand the principles behind it. What you need is so much more advanced than that, I recommend you find a different dentist.

Look for dentists who have a smile gallery. Then look for some before and after dental bonding images. If you love what you see in the results, call the office to make certain those are the dentist’s own work and not just stock photos. If it is you should be good to go.

Another option is to have porcelain veneers placed on your two front teeth. If a dentist tries to suggest you’ll have to do more teeth to get them to match, move on. He or she doesn’t have the skill you need.

This blog is brought to you by Hoffman Estates Dentist Dr. William Becker.

Pain with Teeth Whitening

Posted on by .

I have been whitening my teeth for a few weeks using an over-the-counter kit. Everything was going just fine, then recently, I started getting this sting of pain. It is a zap that hurts for a few seconds and then goes away. I noticed that it is always the spot where I have some dental bonding done for a chipped tooth. Is it possible the teeth whitening is breaking the bonding seal and that is why I am having the pain? If so, what do I do? If not, can you think of what can be the cause of my problem?

Angie

Dear Angie,

Teeth Whitening Trays

 

Teeth whitening is not known to cause any weakining of dental bonding, so I don’t think that is the cause. When bonding is weakened then the repair would just fall off. The more likely issue is that there is a weak, exposed spot where the dental bonding is.

My suggestion is you schedule an appointment with your dentist. He or she can analyze the area and touch up any exposed area with some more bonding. Until then, you can temporarily stop your teeth whitening. Using an over the counter whitening can be okay, depending on what kit you are using, but it is always better to whiten under the care of a dentist.

I am not saying this as someone trying to drum up business, especially because you have a dentist already. It is to protect you. There have been reported cases of someone needing a root canal treatment because of Crest Whitestrips and it is not even a very strong whitening. You don’t want to need an emergency dental appointment because of cheap teeth whitening.

This blog is brought to you by Hoffman Estates Dentist Dr. William Becker.

 

Root Canal as a Result of Teeth Whitening

Posted on by .

I have a tooth that has given me problems for a while after an accident. It was pushed back a bit and an oral surgeon repaired it. It’s been a bit darker than my other teeth and I wanted to do something about that. He suggested I use Crest Whitestrips, which I did. A few days after I started, that tooth began to hurt every time I whitened. I stopped whitening thinking I just needed to give the tooth a break and then pick it back up later. That didn’t help either. Now the tooth is sensitive to hot and cold even though I haven’t used the product for a week. I went back to see my dentist and he suggested I need a root canal treatment. I asked him to make sure and had him run some tests. It turns out he was right and I do need a root canal treatment. Have you heard of this happening with teeth whitening before?

Amanda

Dear Amanda,

Woman in pain grabbingTo be honest, I have only heard of one other case where a root canal treatment resulted from using Crest Whitestrips. The case was very similar to yours. Both times it surprised me because Crest Whitestrips are very mild. However, your tooth was already traumatized so maybe this just threw it over the edge. I am glad you are getting the root canal treatment you needed. It is no fun being in pain.

I will say that teeth whitening was not the right solution for your situation. Even if Crest Whitestrips were stronger this would not change the color disparity. When you whiten your teeth, the bleach works across all the teeth evenly. This means the darker tooth would still be darker.

Instead, you would have needed either dental bonding or a porcelain veneer to be placed on the traumatized tooth. I would not let your current dentist do it, though. Teeth whitening is the simplest cosmetic dentistry procedure there is. If he did not understand the basic tenents of getting that to work, then he certainly cannot do an advanced cosmetic procedure, such as porcelain veneers.

This blog is brought to you by Hoffman Estates Dentist Dr. William Becker.

 

Bleaching Teeth With Clorox

Posted on by .

I want to whiten my teeth fast for a special event I have coming up. I tried rinsing my teeth with peroxide every day, which is what I believe dentists use, but that didn’t work. Would Clorox bleach work better?

Karla

Dear Karla,

teeth bleaching trays

Let’s first talk about why the peroxide didn’t work. There are two factors missing from your peroxide regiment that made it unsuccessful. The first is the strength of the peroxide. The over-the-counter peroxide you get is a 3% peroxide concentration. The gel that dentists use contains between 25 – 33% peroxide. This is a much more effective way to whiten your teeth.

You can’t actually purchase that strength because of federal regulations. They want to protect patients from harming themselves because there are a few things that can go wrong at that strength without a dentist to keep an eye on things. A second issue that caused it to be ineffective is the length of time. In order for the whitening to take effect, the peroxide has to be on your teeth a minimum of 20 minutes for it to seep in. I don’t know anyone who could swish peroxide on their teeth for that long.

This is why dentists use bleaching trays, such as the one pictured above. The trays keep the teeth whitening gel on your teeth for the length of time you desire. They also protect your gums and the remainder of your mouth from being affected by the gel.

This leads me to your question about Clorox. This product is a base. It can destroy/burn living tissue. To illustrate this, many dentists use household bleach during root canal treatments. Its active ingredient is sodium hypochlorite which dentists use to eat away the debris left over and clean out the tooth.

My suggestion if you want fast teeth whitening is to go see a dentist who offers Zoom Whitening. This will whiten your teeth in just one appointment, while keeping your gums safe.

This blog is brought to you by Hoffman Estates Dentist Dr. William Becker.

Why are My Teeth Whiter than My Dental Crown

Posted on by .

I moved to a new town and the very first thing that happened to me was a car wreck. I’ve severely broken a front tooth as a result and needed to get a dental crown. I looked up dentists in the area with good reviews and went. I whiten my teeth about once every two years. As a result I have very white, clean looking teeth. The dentist I went to said he’d give me the whitest shade because of how white my teeth are. Once it was in, I could tell that is was not as white as the rest of my teeth. In fact, next to the other front tooth, it looks pretty lame. My dentist insists he gave me the whitest shade, but I’m having a hard time believing him at this point. What should I do?

Carol

Dear Carol,

The only way to get your crown to match y our front tooth at this point is to get a new one. You will need to do it with a different dentist though. He’s in a little over his head. My guess is that he doesn’t do much (if any) cosmetic work. When you whiten your teeth, it does not just remove stains. It can actually whiten the natural pigment of your teeth so that they are whiter than they were before they picked up stains.

old vita shade guide

Before teeth whitening was a thing dentists all used a shade guide to match their dental crowns to their patient’s front teeth. I have an example of the old shade guide pictured directly above. Then, in the 1990s, teeth whitening picked up in popularity. People’s teeth started getting whiter than the shades the dentists knew how to match. Now, any dentist who does even the simplest of cosmetic procedures will have the updated shade guide (pictured below).

Updated shade guide

As you can see, the updated guide has whiter selections for dentists to use with their patients. You have the added complication of your dental crown being on a front tooth. These are the most challenging to match. Even the best cosmetic dentists usually have to do a few try-ins before they get the exact replication. This is because tints have to be added to match the variations that are more visible on a front tooth because of the light. I don’t think the dentist you went to for this has any idea how to do that. I know he had good reviews and he may be an amazing bread and butter family dentist, but he is not right for what you need.

Ask him for a refund. You may not get it because if the crown is functional, that is all the dental board requires. However, most dentists care about how their patients feel about the work and he may be willing to give you at least a partial refund. Once you have that, look for someone who does cosmetic work. Then, make sure they are willing to use a temporary try in paste so you can see the crown in your mouth next to your other teeth first. AND, if you don’t like it they should be willing to send it back to the lab to get it right.

I hope this helps.

This blog is brought to you by Hoffman Estates Dentist Dr. William Becker.

Zoom Whitening and Uneven Teeth

Posted on by .

I’m wondering if our dentist did the Zoom Whitening wrong. Here’s the situation. When my daughter’s braces were removed, her teeth had an uneven color. Our dentist suggested we whiten them with Zoom because it is the strongest whitening. While her teeth are whiter, they’re still uneven and it actually makes it look worse. Did something go wrong with the procedure?

Kelly

Dear Kelly,

Patient under the Zoom Whitening Light

 

I’m sure the Zoom whitening procedure was done correctly. The steps are fairly straightforward. The problem your daughter is facing is that it was not the right procedure for her situation. Any type of teeth whitening procedures, including Zoom, whiten teeth evenly. It won’t selectively whiten some areas to match the others. So what is the right treatment for your daughter’s situation?

The white spots on your daughter’s teeth are decalcification spots. This is fairly common after traditional braces. It is quite hard to brush thoroughly around all those metal wires and brackets. When students don’t brush those areas well enough the decalcification spots show up. Essentially, they are pre-cavities so you don’t want to leave them.

You can try a special product called Tooth Mousse that can remineralize teeth in certain situations, but in most cases, this has to be treated with dental bonding. To do this, a dentist will gently remove the decalcified area and replace it with composite dental bonding. It does take some artistry and training to do this well. It is a more advanced procedure than teeth whitening.

Because of this, I am going to recommend you use a different dentist for this particular procedure. Teeth whitening is the easiest cosmetic procedure there is and your dentist was confused about its principles. I don’t think there is much chance they will be able to do the bonding well.

For the benefit of other parents reading this, one way to avoid this situation is to get Invisalign instead of traditional braces. They’re removable, so it is easier to brush thoroughly. However, because they’re removable it does require your teeth to be responsible. If you don’t think they’ll wear them the correct amount of time or will lose them, then I’d stick with the braces.

This blog is brought to you by Hoffman Estates Dentist Dr. William Becker.

 

Is Tanda Pearl Teeth Whitening Better for TMJ Patients?

Posted on by .

I am a TMJ patient who also wants white teeth. My dentist provided me with teeth whitening trays and told me to wear them an hour a day.  This seems to aggravate my TMJ Disorder. I came across this system online by chance called the Tanda Pearl Ionic Teeth Whitening. Apparently, it has a light that allows you to whiten your teeth in only five minutes a day. Do you know how safe the system is? If it is safe, will this be a better option for someone with TMJ Disorder, like myself?

Patti

Dear Patti,

teeth bleaching trays

I am going to assume the bleaching trays your dentist provided for your teeth whitening look something like the image above and that he took an impression of your teeth to ensure they are custom-fitted. If there was never an impression taken, you may want to ask your dentist about taking the right steps, especially for a patient with TMJ Disorder.

Looking at the Tanda Pearl System, they do use a useful whitening agent, though because it is over-the-counter, it is weaker than what your dentist is likely providing you. The “special” light they provide seems to be bogus and is probably only there for psychological reasons. If it were such a breakthrough technology, they would be selling it to dental offices and making a fortune. The only reason I can think of for not doing that is so they don’t put themselves under any professional scrutiny.

The next thing that bothers me is the tray itself. This is more of a DIY tray made by you biting down on an impression. That could be okay, except for the fact that it is one single tray that you will have to constantly bite down on in order to keep it in your mouth. This will severely exacerbate your TMJ problems.

Teeth whitening is achieved by wearing the gel on your teeth. The longer you wear the gel, the faster your teeth will whiten. But, you don’t have to wear them for an hour. If that long makes your jaw ache, cut back the time. Whatever gel your dentist provides you will be stronger than anything you could get over-the-counter anyway. Wear them for half an hour, or even 15 minutes if that is what will keep you from aching.

If you are looking for something to work super fast, you may want to consider porcelain veneers. While they are more expensive than whitening, they are much more powerful and versatile as well. These don’t just whiten your teeth, but can also change anything you want about your smile, including the shape and size. They are the go-to procedure for those in Hollywood wanting a beautiful smile.

This blog is brought to you by Hoffman Estates Dentist Dr. William Becker.

Thoughts on Premium Home Whitening Kit

Posted on by .

I saw a suggestion on one of my feeds for me to purchase a Premium Home Whitening Kit. I liked the idea of whitening my teeth at home for less than my dentist charges for his Zoom machine. Plus, I can do it in private. Do you know if this kit works?

Mazie

Dear Mazie,

Teeth Whitening Trays

I’m glad you wrote about this. There are some good things and some concerning things about this product. Let’s start with the good. The ingredient they use for their whitening agent is legitimate and will work. The light, however, is bogus. It won’t be powerful enough to do anything. Bottom line, it will whiten your teeth. So, if that is the case, what are my concerns?

The Whitening Trays

If you were to do at-home whitening through your dentist, the trays given to you would be custom-fitted to your bite. That means there will be no leakage. Why does that matter? Glad you asked! The trays that come with the Premium kit are generic and will not keep the gel in well.  This means some gel with get out and some saliva will get in.

This not only weakens the effectiveness, which will drive your cost up purchasing more gel to attain the level of whitening you want, but it also puts your gums at risk. There is a post on mynewsmile.com about a woman who ended up needing a root canal treatment because of an over-the-counter whitening kit. If she’d been under the care of a professional, this would never have happened.

The Cost

While the cost is lower than some dentists, it is actually higher than others. The quote your dentist gave you, as you mentioned, was for the in-office Zoom Whitening. This is more expensive than take-home whitening, though it has the benefit of completely whitening your teeth in just one appointment. But, did you know that your dentist very likely does take-home whitening as well? Which would be less expensive.

In your place, I would tell your dentist that you have an offer for Premium Whitening at this price, but you’d prefer to get your teeth whitened under his care. Ask for him to do take-home and to come closer to their price. My guess is he will. If he doesn’t, there are plenty of other dentists who offer teeth whitening.

This blog is brought to you by Hoffman Estates Dentist Dr. William Becker.