Teeth Whitening for tetracycline staining

[tone48]

Hi I wonder if you can help me?
When i was born I suffered with cholic and the medicine I was pescribed has subsequently been blamed for causing my discoloured adult teeth. My teeth are not stained, when my adult teeth came through they were a kind of see through colour with a kind of greyish/yellowish tinge. I dont smoke or drink very much tea or coffee and over the years (im 24 now) i have used pro-enamal tooth paste and my teeth have 'whitened up' a little, too be honnest they arent too bad, but im getting married in a year and I would really love a bright smile. My dentist has already told me that regular teeth whitening wont work because my teeth are discoloured and not stained. Are there any other treatments or procedures available? and if there are what are the costs and how would I go about finding a practice that could help me? I have asked my dentist but she promises to look into it and then never does.
Thank you for your time

Toni-Marie Edwards

[Dr Pav Khaira]

Hi Toni, it sounds like you have tetracycline staining whihc is extremly difficult to correct with whitening.

There are a numbr of things that can be done for you but treatment outcome can be difficult so you need to find someone who really knows what they are doing and you must feel comfortabloe with them. Pronamel will (at best) remove superficial staining and nothing more. The potential cost vary significantly depending on treatment options so you would need to discuss that with your dentist. I have some superb results with tertacycline treatments but the treatment may take some time to finish so I would recommend urgent consultation with a reputable cosmetic dentist if you have a time frame ni mind

Feel free to contact me if you need any further help

Hope this helps

[Dr Kailesh Solanki]

hi toni, many thanks for your post, this is a more common problem than you think. what you have is tetracycline staining which is discolouration of your developing teeth by the antibiotic tetracycline which was more than likely prescribed when you was ill as a child.

The americans have done alot of work on this type of discolouration and tooth whitening alone using the right products and the right combinations of whitening, both in surgery and home whitening can dramatically improve the discolouration. this of course depends upon the severity of the starting discolouration and how well you follow the whitening regime at home. This can however take upto 6 months of whitening.

this is a none invasive method. but if you require a quicker result, the only option would be to have veneers placed to mask the discolouration but this would require preparation of your teeth.

Dr Khaira is right in saying that it is best to have a consultation with a dental surgeon who is experianced in these techniques and can give you the best advice with the appropriate options.

if you require any further help or would like me to recommend a dentist in your area please email back.


Dr Kailesh Solanki
Clinical Director kissdental
www.kissdental.co.uk