Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Can you whiten your teeth if you have a porcelain crown?

My front tooth broke in half, and my dentist is going to be putting a crown on it... will I still be able to whiten my teeth?
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When I am doing crowns for my patients I like for them to do some whitening before I shade match for the crown. 1) because most people eat things that stain their teeth (cola, wine, coffee, etc) and a few weeks of whitening with a custom tray can remove these stains so the crown shade can be accurately matched to tooth shade. 2) Crowns do not whiten to a shade lighter than when they were fabricated. So, if the dentist makes a crown for you to match your existing teeth and you want to whiten your teeth, the crown will end up looking darker than your teeth (after you whiten the teeth). If your tooth is broken now and you do not want to wait a few weeks to let the whitening work, have your dentist either use tooth-colored filling material to build your broken tooth and make it look good or have your dentist make a temporary acrylic or composite crown for you until the shade for your permanent restoration can be taken. Good luck!
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