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Question: I have I have dark tetracycline stain on my teeth. Can this be bleached out?
Answer: Tooth whitening will make your teeth a little bit lighter, but won't get them to a normal white color. With whitening alone, you will still have grayish-brown teeth.
The best treatment for tetracycline stain is porcelain veneers. But you definitely need the expertise of a highly-trained cosmetic dentist.
Here are some of the problems we have seen in porcelain veneers that were done over tetracycline stain, and then we had to replace them because the patient was unhappy:
- They were made too translucent, and the very dark stain showed through.
- They were made too opaque, and the teeth looked pasty and fake.
- They were made thin at the edges, creating a dark halo effect.
- The teeth weren't covered adequately between the teeth, leaving dark triangles showing between the teeth.
Tetracycline antibiotic, when taken while the teeth are forming, will deposit in the dentin of the tooth, leaving the tooth a dark brown or gray. What surprises many dentists who haven't treated these stains before, is that the stain tends to get darker the deeper they go into the tooth. The color has to be opaqued out, and then a translucent layer has to be placed over the opaque layer to re-create the natural appearance of the teeth.
Dr. Chal has treated many tetracycline stain cases with beautiful results. He and his master ceramist, Rick Durkee, CDT, have worked together for 25 years, and they know what they are doing. Please see Dr. Chal's main web site for photographs of his beautiful results, and testimonials from grateful patients.
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