Bleaching Your Teeth Before Cosmetic Work

Posted by writeradmin

I am needing to get a dental crown on my front tooth. My understanding is that once the crown is made I will not be able to change the color. I have always had white teeth because I whitened my teeth. I was told to touch up every few years but life overtook me. Now that I have to get the crown, I would like to get them back to the original white color after I had the whitening done. I asked my dentist some specific questions about this but he was not able to help me. So, I’m going to try with you.

First, how long shall should I whiten each day? Second, how many days? Finally, do I need to wait at all between when I finish whitening and when I get the dental crown. Because this crown is going to be on a front tooth, I really want to get this right.

Joyce

Dear Joyce,

The last of your questions has a very specific answer. The others have general guidelines. So, let’s start with the specific. From the time your teeth whitening is done to the time you get your dental crown designed should be two weeks. You may get away with one, but you’re talking about a front tooth so I would take the safe time period of two weeks. The reason for this is your teeth keep whitening for a short period of time (between one to two weeks) even after you stop using the whitening gel.

So, how do you know how long to whiten in order to get the whitening to where you want it?

This basic principle is the the longer you whiten each day, the faster your teeth will get to the shade you want. If you whiten overnight every day, it’s going to go pretty quickly. If you can only do twenty minutes a day because you have sensitive teeth, then it will take you longer.

I am concerned about one thing that will be very important to you. The questions you asked are not complicated and any cosmetic dentist should have been able to answer them for you. The fact that your dentist couldn’t worries me. While placing a dental crown is not a challenging thing for almost any dentist. However, placing a dental crown on a front tooth takes advanced cosmetic skill. Even the top cosmetic dentist will need a few try ins before they get it to match the adjacent tooth exactly.

Your dentists inability to answer them tells me he is not an expert cosmetic dentist. Your best bet is to see the best cosmetic dentist you can. My suggestion would be to see an AACD accredited dentist. These are proven cosmetic dentists that can give you a beautiful, natural looking front tooth that will match perfectly the adjacent tooth.

This blog is brought to you by Franklin, TN Cosmetic Dentist Dr. Christopher Weber.