My daughters have fluorosis and overbite would micro abrasion work
Q. Hi, I have 2 daughters age 9 and 10 who both have moderate white fluorosis stains on their front teeth. Other children are now picking up on this and calling them cruel names as this makes the rest of their teeth appear a yellow colour. Furthermore, they are both unfortunate enough to have overlapping teeth and an overbite. They have both been referred to the orthodontist but they may not fit NHS criteria but we would fund treatment ourselves if this is the case. However, the fluorosis is the main source of worry as our own dentist just advises 18 and have their teeth bleached?? I have read about microabrasion – would a private cosmetic dentist consider doing this now- particularly as they may be undergoing orthodontic treatment in the future. Any advice you could offer would be very gratefully received.
A. Microabrasion is definately an option. I have done it many times on children. It is painless and undestructive to the teeth. Fluorosis can be in the surface enamel only but occasionally can penetrate deeper into the tooth. This means that if micrabraision technique is used, a tooth which is towards the back of the mouth should be treated first to see wether the discolouration gets any worse. A private cosmetic dentist will do this. If it works than great if it doesn’t then your kids can have white filling material placed over the teeth that are affected until they are old enough to have something permanent placed on them. I would advise that the white fillings are not placed until after orthodontic treatment has been completed.
Whitening generally doesn’t work on fluorosis, this is because of the nature of the discolouration. In fluorosis the discolouration is due to the alignment of enamel crystals and this is usually unaffected by bleach. Therefore, when they are old enough, if microbraision hasn’t worked they can have very thin laminate veneers placed on their teeth. Although this does involve shaving approximately 1/2 mm from the facing of the tooth, it is the least destructive way of improving the colouration of the teeth. In some cases veneers can be placed without shaving any of the tooth away.
I hope this helps
Kind Regards
Leave a Reply