My two upper front teeth are capped. Is there a way to whiten them as the color varies from my natural teeth.

Question

I have used whitening strips in the past but they ate not effective on my capped teeth. They have however whitened my natural teeth and this has caused a slight color variation.

Kathy Frazar, DDS, FAGD · Answer

Porcelain veneers are like fine china.  The color they are when they are cemented does not ever change.  If you choose to whiten your teeth, the crowns may need to be redone.

Scott Young, DDS · Answer

Unfortunetly, you cannot whiten crowns, only natural teeth as the bleaching only works on enamel.  Good luck.

Paul D. Kantor, DDS · Answer

There really is no way to whiten crowns (caps) in the mouth. The systems used to whiten teeth only work on tooth structure, not crowns, veneers, onlays or bonding. The only way to whiten them is to replace them.

Brett Silverman, DDS, MAGD · Answer

Sorry, caps will not change color with bleach.  some times they can be polished and remove surface stain to help them blend in.  I usually recommend to my patients to really keep a close eye on the shade changes so they blend in and not to proceed too much so they stand out.  Unfortunately you have passed that point.  You can either leave them as is and be ok with the different colors and wait for natural darkening for them to blend in. The other option is to  replace the crowns.  Note:  if you are going to replace the crowns.....bleach the remaining teeth to the desired shade prior to replacing the crowns so they blend in.Good luck.Thank you Brett S. Silverman DDS, MAGD

Vicki Borowski, DDS · Answer

There is only one way to whiten capped teeth and that is with new caps. Depending on how old the caps are this may not be a bad answer. Talk to your dentist about the options of replacing the old caps if you want to whiten your teeth even more.

Susan Hollinsworth, DDS (retired) · Answer

There is no way to whiten front caps/crowns without replacing them. If you decide to do this, be sure to whiten your natural teeth to where you want them ,so that the new caps can be made to match.

Thomas Roberts, DDS (retired) · Answer

Unfortunately the only way to change the color of your capped teeth is to redo the caps.  Bleach will not affect them.  Sorry.  Good luck!

My two upper front teeth are capped. Is there a way to whiten them as the color varies from my natural teeth.

Answers (7)

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