I had four porcelain veneers placed. I did ask them to be made very white, which he did. I’m grateful for that. I just didn’t think about the fact that more than four of my teeth show and the natural teeth are much less white than the ones I had porcelain veneers placed on. So, I need to fix this. I was thinking of doing Zoom Whitening because that’s supposed to be the best. It just occurred to me that maybe whitening my teeth will hurt the veneers. Is that a risk?
Virginia
Dear Virginia,
First, I want to emphasize you were not the one responsible for knowing that your smile was wider than four teeth. It was your dentist’s responsibility. In truth, most patient’s smiles are somewhere between 8-10 teeth wide. That doesn’t mean everyone can afford that many porcelain veneers.
When your smile is wider than the number of veneers you are getting, your dentist should have told you to whiten your teeth then. It is always better to do teeth whitening before getting your smile makeover than after. This is because it is much simpler to match porcelain veneers to the whitened color than it is to get teeth whitening to match your veneers.
As to whether or not whitening your teeth will hurt your veneers, it will not. Teeth whitening only affects natural tooth structure.
Zoom Whitening
If you were whitening your teeth ahead of time, I would tell you Zoom Whitening was a great choice for that. It will allow you to get your teeth whitened in just one appointment. However, given your current situation, I would not recommend Zoom. This is because this particular whitening gets your teeth extremely white. You wouldn’t want to risk getting your natural teeth so white it makes your porcelain veneers look darker than they are. There is no way to whiten veneers after they are completed.
The alternative I would suggest is teeth whitening trays. Your dentist will prepare these to custom fit your bite, but you’ll actually do the whitening at home at your convenience. The reason I am suggesting this method is it will allow you to control the level of whitening.
Once your natural teeth match your veneers in color, you can stop. You won’t have to worry about them going whiter than you want because you control how much.
This blog is brought to you by Hilton Head Cosmetic Dentist Dr. Bonnie Rothwell.
