Heather,
Actually, porcelain crowns are thicker than metal crowns. When crowns are placed on second molars, space can be limited, so your dentist will need to use a metal crown.

While you do have options of metals to choose from, I highly recommend you choose gold, even though it may be a little more expensive. Gold will last much longer since it doesn’t corrode, it fits better to the tooth, and it can be cast much more accurately.

Also learn about composite fillings here.

Vickie in Portland

Dear Vickie,

I’m sorry to hear about your daughter’s fall. There really isn’t much you can do to return your daughter’s baby teeth to their normal color. Although, in some cases this discoloration may fade somewhat. And unfortunately changing your daughter’s diet won’t resolve this issue. In about three to four years your daughter’s teeth will naturally fall out on their own, and her adult teeth will come in. So at this point, you should avoid doing anything to her teeth since you don’t want to risk loosening them.  

Learn more about pediatric dentistry by clicking here.

- Tammy from San Jose, California

Tammy,

Porcelain veneers are a good choice for fixing small teeth. My recommendation is to first search for an expert cosmetic dentist to place your porcelain veneers, if you want the very best results. You’ll want to avoid going to a general dentist for this procedure. General dentists are very competent at fixing things, but they do not have the same type of artistic talent and experience that a cosmetic dentist has to do this type of work.

In California, four veneers would cost you somewhere between $4000 and $8000. But I advise you not to price shop. You could probably find someone to do them cheaper than this, but you will be unlikely to end up with a beautiful smile if you try to find the cheapest dentist.

Jack from Florida

Dear Jack,

It’s difficult to determine why your tooth is sensitive without taking a look at it. I don’t think you need to worry too much about it though. Occasionally patients experience slight sensitivity with white fillings. It’s possible that this irritation you are feeling is from the bonding process. Another possibility is that the enamel of the tooth was irritated while polishing the filling enamel of the tooth. If your tooth is just slightly sensitive to the touch, then this shouldn’t cause you to be concerned.

You may also want to learn more about composite bonding.

- Tracy from Wisconsin

Tracy,

I’m sorry you are in this predicament. Treating tetracycline stains can be very difficult, and most dentists have very little experience with this procedure. From what you explained I question if your dentist had ever treated someone with tetracycline stains.

In most cases porcelain veneers are the appropriate treatment for tetracycline stains. In order to place crowns the dentist needs to grind the whole tooth down. With porcelain veneers the dentist only needs to shave a little off each tooth. Most dentists have difficulty blocking out the dark stains while making the tooth look natural. The problem is the dentist will go from one extreme to another, as in your case – either a gray look, or what we refer to as the “toilet bowl” look. It also seems as if your dentist’s laboratory was taking their first shot at working with tetracycline stains.

My best advice is to first get an opinion from a qualified cosmetic dentist about repairing the work, and then go talk to your dentist about getting all of your money back. And be sure to avoid being confrontational with your dentist. This never helps matters. Make sure that the cosmetic dentist you choose to do the work is well qualified though.

Read more about teeth whitening and discolored teeth here at Beasley Dentistry.

Cheryl in California

Cheryl,

You should not have a problem switching to another dentist and continuing with your retainers. Even if you were still in the middle of your Invisalign treatment you would be fine. Your current dentist has a responsibility to see to it that your transition to the new dentist goes smoothly. Further, it would be very unethical if your current dentist was to disrupt the transition.

Dentists are required by the dental association to live up to an ethical code when treating patients, but if you have difficulty with your dentist, it will not be a problem to have another dentist make a retainer for you. For a minimal cost your new dentist can have his or her assistant take a basic impression of your teeth. Then the assistant will pour up a model and send it to a dental lab.

As for your question, “Do I need to find a dentist who is certified with Invisalign?” This really isn’t necessary but it could be to your benefit if you do.

It’s great to hear how satisfied you are with the Invisalign treatment. Invisible braces can be slightly more expensive compared to traditional braces but then they only take about half the treatment time.

To learn about other methods used to straighten teeth and correct spacing problems, read about Porcelain Veneers.

Stacey from Kentucky

Stacey,

Let me ask you a couple questions: Did you request a certain degree of whiteness when you first had your Lumineers done on your upper teeth? If this is the case, are you only interested in bleaching your bottom teeth? This is important to know, because Lumineers can not be whitened at this point. Although, you can whiten your lower teeth if you are trying too match them to color of the Lumineers above.

When placing Lumineers on our patients, specifically if they are for the upper arch, we strongly advise our patients to select the shade they want. It is fine to go with a lighter shade on the upper arch at this point, because the lower teeth can later be lightened to match the Lumineers on top.

 Learn more about teeth whitening by visiting us at our Huntsville dentist website.

- Lauren from Houston

Lauren,

I’m sorry to hear about the bad fall your son took. Before jumping to conclusions about extracting your child’s baby teeth, you should make an appointment for him to see a pediatric dentist.

In your son’s case, he could have damaged and possibly severed the nerves to his teeth. If this is so, then these teeth would need to be removed. Hopefully this is not the situation though since he is at the age where his front teeth are needed to help support his speech development.

Another possibility that could be causing the discoloration in your son’s teeth is from exposure to bacteria. When children become exposed to bacteria, their immune systems will naturally  fight off germs. In some cases though, children’s teeth can be affected and become discolored, which will naturally fade back to their normal shade in time.

It’s wonderful to hear how well you take care of your children, but if your son hasn’t had his first dental visit yet, then this would be a good time to make an appointment with a dentist. Introducing your children to the dentist at an early age is something we recommend at our practice since it helps to reduce dental anxiety.

Stacy,
I wish I had a better answer, but I don’t. Once porcelain veneers are placed, the color is set, and you can’t whiten them. Even Zoom whitening, as powerful as it is, won’t whiten porcelain veneers. They would have to be re-done in order to match your bleached teeth.

Dentists are taught in dental school that B-1 is the lightest shade of teeth on the standard shade guide that most dentists use. And if a dentist never has any advanced training in cosmetic dentistry, that is what they will think of when you ask for the “whitest shade possible.” But when we get further training in cosmetic dentistry, we become acquainted with newer shade guides that have additional categories for bleached teeth. It appears that your dentist wasn’t familiar with these bleached shades.

Another way that we make sure this communication problem never happens in our office is that we are very careful that the patient follows the smile makeover design every step of the way. We thoroughly discuss their desired shade, and then we try on the new smile and make sure every patient gets a thorough look at it, in their mouth, before we ever bond it on. Most dentists just give you a quick look at the dental work for a few seconds while you are upside-down in the chair. You don’t get a really good look at it until you go home and look in the mirror. That leads to problems like you have had.

Kristina,
Because of the shape of the roots of baby molars, it isn’t possible to do root canal treatments on them. So when they get infected, they need to be extracted. Otherwise, the infection will spread in the bone and affect the developing permanent premolars that will come in their place when she is about 10 to 12 years old.

Also be sure that your dentist puts in a space maintainer to hold the space for the permanent premolars. Since she is six, her permanent first molars will be coming in very soon. They come in behind the baby molars, and they will drift forward and block out the permanent premolars unless a space maintainer is placed to hold that space.

Dr. Brad Beasley isn’t a pediatric dentist specialist – but he is a dentist who loves to treat children.