I believe Tetracycline is showing gray through my teeth. What can I do to treat this? (photo)

Question

Recently I had veneers in Costa Rica. Afterward, I saw the "gray" in the middle of each tooth - tetracycline stains showing through, according to 3 dentists here. When I asked about it, I was told these were shadows, intentionally created surface "imperfections" to make them look natural. What? Anything you can offer to help me be more knowledgable about porcelain, resins, etc to address this? I'd rather redo them here - $1200/tooth is way too much. Anyone up for a project??

Ira Shapira, DDS · Answer

This may be staining on the tooth showing threw the porcelain or it may be graying from using a Heme or dual cure restorative material to bond the veneers in place.   There is no way to correct this without replacing the veneers.A larger reduction of tooth structure, a more opaque cement or a more opaque ceramic material could be used when the case is redone.  Shine thru is a problem when veneers are very thin.

Kourosh Maddahi, DDS · Answer

There is definitely an Art as how to restore tetracycline stained teeth or even dark gray teeth.  In my 27 years of experience as a cosmetic dentist I have seen three main factors:1. Inadequate tooth reduction2.  Improper color cement 3.  Improper porcelain materialsAs far as I can see in the photo, all of the three above criteria has been violated.  Unless I examine it in person it would be very hard to say why there is such a big difference between the temporaries and the porcelain veneers picture.it appears that the veneers have to be redone by an expert cosmetic dentist with a lot of experience in handling tetracycline stained teeth.Unfortunately I have seen this result too often.  Hope this helps.Best,Dr. Maddahi

Norman Huefner, DDS · Answer

The resulting color (tooth shade) is a combination of at least four things:the underlying tooth colorthe thickness of the veneer or crownthe color (shade) of the porcelain usedthe amount of translucency of that type of porcelain (there are different types of porcelain of the same color with different amounts of translucency) - the more translucency the more the underlying color will show throughThe dental luting cement (the "glue" that bonds the veneer to your underlying tooth) may to a very finite degree affect the end result of the color, but I doubt that is the cause of the discoloration.It is my opinion that the color cannot be corrected without remaking your veneers taking into consideration the four things I have listed above.Your cosmetic dentist can't do much about the first thing, but he/she can certainly take into consideration the other three in order to achieve the color veneers that you want.From your photos it appears that either the tooth structure is very dark (i.e. tetracycline stain) or the veneers are possibly too thin for the dark underlying color.My advice is when you choose to redo them to find a cosmetic dentist with a lot of experience.  Ask to see photos of other patient that he/she have treated with dark teeth like yours.  You might even ask a simple question as see if he/she knows the four things I have alluded to above.

I believe Tetracycline is showing gray through my teeth. What can I do to treat this? (photo)

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I believe Tetracycline is showing gray through my teeth. What can I do to treat this? (photo)

Answers (3)

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