Several months ago I had porcelain veneers placed on my upper front teeth. I asked the dentist for the whitest shade possible, but they are darker than my own bleached teeth. Is there a way to bleach them or get them whiter somehow?
- Stacy
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.