My coffee drinking habit seems to have stained my porcelain veneers. Would having teeth whitening done get them to look as white as they used to? If not, is there something I can do? I used to be so proud of this smile.

Becky

Dear Becky,

The type of glaze used with porcelain veneers is glass-like and quite stain resistant. Even drinking coffee should not have affected them. If they are picking up stains, it means they are damaged in some way. There are a couple of ways this could have happened.

First, if you’ve been using something abrasive on them while brushing your teeth, such as baking soda or over-the-counter whitening toothpaste. Because of their abrasiveness, these will scratch the glaze that protects your porcelain veneers, leaving them vulnerable to stains. A second possibility is that your hygienist used something to damage the glazing, such as a power prophy jet or acidulated fluoride. If it was something your dental office did, they are responsible to make this right. As such, they should replace them so that you have the glaze back.

If you are the one responsible, then you will need to be the one that fixes this. Teeth whitening will not whiten anything except your natural tooth structure, so that won’t help you. What can be done is either to replace them or to have your dentist polish them up. This will remove the stains and make them more stain-resistant. But, you’ll have to be careful because they will not be as stain-resistant as they were originally.

Your dentist should have talked to you about proper maintenance. It does not sound like that happened. The best toothpaste for cosmetic dental work of any kind is Supersmile Toothpaste. It is specifically designed for porcelain type work. Rather than using an abrasive to help whiten your teeth the way over the counter whitening toothpaste does, it removes the stains chemically using a protein pellicle. I highly recommend it.

This blog is brought to you by Duluth, GA Dentist Dr. David Marion.