Can You Whiten Dental Fillings?

I have very yellow teeth because of stains picked up over the years. I want to whiten them but I also have some white fillings. Will they match? Will they whiten with my teeth or will I need to replace them?

Katie

Dear Katie,

When you whiten your teeth, the only thing which will actually whiten is your natural tooth structure. No dental work whitens with our current technology.  When you have work, such as dental crowns or white fillings and need to have teeth whitening done, you will have to replace the dental work.

The order in which you do this is important. Have your teeth whitened first. Then, wait a week or two for the color to settle down. Then, you can have your fillings redone to match your new brighter color.

Hopefully, you have a regular dentist. If you do and they couldn’t answer this or were too busy to bother with your questions, I wouldn’t have the work done with them. In the first scenario, they lack basic skills. If it is the second scenario, they should care more about their patient’s questions.

The best dentists all have certain important characteristics:

• They continually improve their skills and learn new ones. You don’t want a dentist who just does the bare minimum in continuing education requirements. We live in a rapidly changing world and improvements in technology and procedures happen regularly. You want a dentist who desires to keep up with those changes.
• They care about their patients, not just the fee. If you have a dentist who makes you feel like you are on a conveyor belt and he or she doesn’t have the time to answer your questions, then you need a better dentist.
• If they don’t have the skills you need, they won’t steer you to a lesser procedure they can do to get the fee. Instead, they’ll say, “I don’t do those yet, but let me recommend someone who does.” You can know a dentist like that is looking out for your best interest.

This blog is brought to you by Naperville Cosmetic Dentist Dr. David Newkirk.