I went to my dentist to see if he could fix my tetracycline stained teeth. My dentist recommended putting 8 crowns on my upper front teeth and 6 crowns on my lower teeth. After the crown work was finished I noticed that my teeth looked yellowish and really thick, so my dentist made a second attempt to fix them. While the second set looked better, the bottom 6 teeth still looked yellow. So to block the yellow shade my dentist tried a liner, which then made the crowns look blue or gray. After this failed attempt my dentist tried using opaque crowns, and now my teeth look like they have been made from a porcelain sink. So the lab attempted to fix the crowns by blending in a translucent color, and now there are gray streaks and spots on them. Now I don’t know what I can do.
- 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.