I have a canine tooth that needs to have a dental crown on it. My teeth are kind of yellow so my dentist told me if I wanted to get them whitened I should do it before I have the dental crown made because the color for that cannot be changed once it is done. Something I am wondering about, though, is all the fillings I have. They are silver and probably need to be replaced anyway. Some of them are visible when I smile. Should I replace the fillings first with those white ones and then bleach my teeth to match them or should I whiten the teeth and then get the fillings done?
Bridgette
Dear Bridgette,
I would start with the teeth whitening. It is nearly impossible to get teeth whitening to an exact match to a color. But, you can whiten your teeth to a color you love and then the composite fillings as well as the canine dental crown can be made to match.
I want to give you a couple of precautions. The teeth whitening itself is easy and just about any dentist can do it. The canine you want to be more careful with. First, make sure that your dentist uses a porcelain crown. These are much more natural looking. A metal-based crown will be too opaque and, eventually, will give you quite an unsightly gray line at the gumline. In order to ensure your dentist is able to properly match your dental crown, make certain that he or she uses a temporary try-in paste and then allows you to look at it in several different types of lighting. If you don’t like the crown, your dentist should send it right back to the lab in order to make any changes that you need.
Replacing Amalgam Fillings
One other very important piece of information. Silver fillings are made mostly of mercury. You want to be certain that whoever switches out your fillings knows how to do a sanitary amalgam removal. This will prevent you from inhaling any mercury vapors or swallowing any pieces of mercury. As you know mercury is a toxin and people have serious health repercussions from mercury poisoning. This is actually why so many patients are anxious about their silver fillings and want to replace them, though the American Dental Association still considers them safe.
I recommend seeing a mercury-free dentist in order to have them removed and then ask him if they know how to do a sanitary amalgam removal.
This blog is brought to you by Duluth, GA Dentist Dr. David Marion.
