When my daughter’s braces were finally removed, she ended up with white spots on her teeth. Her orthodontist said her dentist could help us with that. The dentist recommended Zoom Whitening to even the teeth up, but for some reason, they now look worse than ever instead. Did something go wrong? Where do we go from here?

Amanda

Dear Amanda,

While Zoom Whitening is an amazing and powerful teeth whitening system, your dentist doesn’t understand teeth whitening principles. When your teeth are whitened, they whiten evenly. That means the white spots they had will still be different from the remainder of her teeth. The difference between Zoom and take-home whitening systems is that Zoom is faster, whitening her teeth in just one appointment, rather than over several weeks.

When there are white spots after braces, it is generally a sign of decalcification. It’s difficult to brush efficiently with all those metal wires and brackets on her teeth. That’s one reason we often recommend Invisalign for teens and adults. Because these use aligners, you can simply remove them to brush and floss and then put them back on.

As for the decalcification, you do want to address that before it turns into actual decay. There is a product on the market called Tooth Mousse which is specifically designed to recalcify teeth.

Another option is to have the decalcified spots gently removed and then have composite bonding placed on top to match the remainder of the tooth.

One caveat here. Your current dentist likely isn’t qualified to do the dental bonding. Teeth whitening principles are quite basic and she missed the boat with that. Bonding is more advanced and takes some post-doctoral cosmetic dentistry training.

Best of luck to you and your daughter!

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