I am needing to get a crown on a tooth, but my dentist can’t seem to match it to my other teeth. He said my teeth are “too white”. It is true that my teeth are very white. I did do Zoom Whitening with my last dentist about two months ago. I’ve relocated since then. The dentist that whitened them never told me that I wouldn’t be able to match any dental work to them. Have you encountered this? How do you handle dental work?

Kennedy

Dear Kennedy,

The problem here isn’t with your previous dentist not warning you about matching dental work. It is actually with your current dentist. He sounds like your typical bread and butter general dentist who hasn’t invested much time in learning cosmetic dentistry.

Cosmetic dentistry is isn’t a recognized speciality, but neither is it taught in dental school. It is up to the dentist to decide how much time and effort they invest in learning the skills.

Teeth whitening is the most basic of all the cosmetic procedures, but many dentists don’t understand how it works. Most people know that teeth whitening will bleach out stains on your teeth that are naturally accumulated over time. However, it will also bleach the natural pigment of your teeth. Here is where that becomes a problem for dentists who don’t understand cosmetic work.

Shade Guides in Dentistry

When a dentist needs to match a tooth, they use a shade gude such as the one you see above. Before teeth whitening became very popular, a dentist could match just about any tooth using this shade guide. Enter teeth whitening…

Dentists began to find that teeth were whiter than anything on their shade guide. The companies that produce these shade guides noticed it too. They came out with an updated shade guide (see picture below).

With this shade guide, they added whiter shades that go beyond the natural tooth pigment. This is the shade guide your dentist needs to use in order to match your whiter teeth.

At this point, you have two choices. The first is to show him this post and hope he is able to add to his knowledge base. The second is to go to a new dentist to have your porcelain crown done, preferably one who understands the type of procedures you are likely to want or need.

This blog is brought to you by Lafayette, LA Dentists Drs. Foreman and Thimmesch.