Theriot Family Dental

Whitening Non-Veneered Teeth

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I have porcelain veneers and they have held up very well. My natural teeth, however, are a completely different story. Is there a way to whiten just the natural teeth without damaging the porcelain veneers? I was thinking maybe of using something like Crest Whitestrips. Is that safe?

Laurie

Dear Laurie,

Teeth whitening trays in a blue case
Custom bleaching trays for at-home whitening

 

I am glad to hear you are happy with your porcelain veneers. You do not have to worry about teeth whitening hurting your veneers. They only work on natural tooth structure. I am not sure if Crest Whitestrips are your best option, however. They do work, but they will have some drawbacks for you.

The first is its strength. Crest Whitestrips have a strength of about 6%, but professional teeth whitening has anywhere between 25 – 40% strength. As you can tell, if you go with the Whitestrips, you can see how you will need to purchase a LOT of their kits to get decent results.

A second issue is the size of the strips. They are six teeth wide. Most people have at least six porcelain veneers. That means the strips will never reach your teeth if you wear them the traditional way.  You could of course either cut the strips in half and put each half on the adjacent teeth or use two strips. Again, that ends up costing you more.

My suggestion is you tell your dentist what you need He can make you custom-fitted trays that can hold the whitening gel, allowing you to whiten the teeth you need in a much more timely manner.

This blog is brought to you by Lafayette, LA Dentist Dr. John C. Theriot.