Can You Whiten a Crown?

It’s important to give some careful thought to your overall smile when it comes to getting a dental crown in Terre Haute. While you may not give it much thought when a dentist recommends placing a crown over a damaged or decayed tooth, it can completely offset your smile when it doesn’t match the shade of the rest of your teeth.

Read on in this blog from Vivid Smiles to find out why dental crowns won’t respond to teeth whitening and how you can get your crown to match your natural teeth.

Does Teeth Whitening Work On Restorations?

Teeth whitening is a treatment that can be performed in the dental office or at home with whitening trays to lighten the shade of your natural teeth. While this can be highly effective in giving your teeth that instant whitening boost for a special occasion, unfortunately, it won’t change the shade of any dental work that you have, including dental crowns, veneers, or dental bridges.

This is because the whitening agent is designed to penetrate your tooth enamel and removes stains from your teeth through oxidation. This does not work on dental crowns, which are made of materials like porcelain, ceramic, or zirconia.

Whitening treatments increase the porosity of your teeth so they can penetrate through the enamel and break apart staining compounds. Since the materials that make up a dental crown are not porous, they will not respond to whitening. However, they are also stain-resistant.

Why Your Crown May Mismatch the Rest of Your Teeth

The good thing about dental crowns being stain-resistant is that they will usually maintain their shade unless you put them through a lot of staining foods and drinks over many years. Dental cleanings can help remove surface stains from your crowns but they will not do much to alleviate severe discoloration.

The most common problem that patients run into is that they get a dental crown when their teeth are a certain shade, but over time, their teeth either become more discolored or they get their teeth whitened and their teeth no longer match the shade of their dental crown.

How to Achieve Uniform Whitening of the Teeth

A potential solution to the mismatched shade of your teeth and your dental crown is to prepare your teeth before getting a dental crown. This means that you should get your teeth cleaned and consider getting a whitening treatment until you’ve achieved your desired tooth shade.

Then, the dental crown can be shade-matched to your teeth. You will need to keep up with your teeth by regularly attending dental cleanings and you may need to get repeated whitening treatments, but this will prevent mismatched shades.

We don’t recommend that you go lighter with your dental crown shade than what your natural teeth are. This is why it’s important to whiten your teeth before receiving any crowns. Choosing a very white shade for a dental crown in the hopes that you can get your natural teeth to match afterward is a big gamble.

If you have a dental crown that has become quite discolored, we recommend having your crown replaced. Remember to make sure that your teeth are as white as you want them before getting your new dental crown placed.

Need Help In Achieving A Seamless Smile?

At Vivid Smiles, we will work with you to help you achieve your dream smile. Depending on the level of discoloration you have with your teeth, we can recommend a variety of methods to achieve a white smile that matches your dental crown. Contact us at Vivid Smiles today to schedule a consultation with Dr. Roshini Durga Paruchuri or Dr. Nilanchal Sahai.