Teeth Whitening Before Dental Crowns and Veneers?

The suggestion to whiten your teeth before placing crowns and veneers is related more to your other teeth than to the teeth being treated.  Over the counter and professional whitening products only work on natural tooth enamel.  They will not alter the color of tooth colored composite or porcelain restorations.

Especially if you are having this dental work done for cosmetic reasons, you will want to have the crowns and veneers designed to match your remaining teeth.  Whitening in advance allows you to obtain the tooth shade you want and match the dental work to that shade.  If the natural teeth darken sometime later, you will be able to whiten the natural teeth to match the unalterable dental work.

If the teeth to receive the dental work are heavily discolored, whitening before design and placement can provide a better cosmetic result.

It is a good idea to whiten teeth before getting front veneers so you can match the shade of the veneers with the new shade of adjacent teeth.  Veneers can not be whitened.  Any whitening done after the veneers are cemented will whiten the natural teeth next to the veneer but not the veneer itself, causing a shade discrepency.  Best, Dr. Elizabeth Jahanian.