Show #285 Airing Sunday, February 20, 2005
When you meet someone with a dazzling white smile, do you turn green with envy? If your teeth are off-color, you don’t have to feel sad and blue. Here to explain is a dentist who always adds color to our mornings, Dr. Steven Marsh.
Question: Is everyone born with pearly white teeth?
Answer: No. People are born with a wide range of tooth color. Some of this is simply based on genetics and happens naturally. Other color issues can be due to medication the mother took while pregnant.
Question: What are you talking about?
Answer: One example is the drug Tetracycline. The children who were affected are now mainly in their 50’s. This drug caused the baby’s teeth to turn brown or gray in color.
There are a LOT of whitening procedures, but none of them has an affect on Tetracycline stains. The teeth HAVE to be whitened by use of veneers.
Question: Can anything else discolor teeth?
Answer: An injury to a tooth can turn it yellow or gray in color. Sometimes, that discoloration can just be bleached out, but at times yellow stains do not come out easily and veneers must be used.
In this example, there was an injury to one tooth, turning it yellow. When the patient needed crowns, the dentist match the color of the crowns to the yellow tooth. We whitened the teeth and then used new veneers and crowns to complete the smile.
Question: What about smoking or coffee?
Answer: Yes, coffee, smoking, wine, etc. can stain the outside of the tooth. For that, we can use Zoom or Bright Smile.
You don’t have to turn “red” with embarrassment every time you smile. Using today’s dental techniques, you can have beautiful white teeth. My thanks to Dr. Steven Marsh.
