Question:

I've had veneers for 15 years and am starting to notice some staining. When I bleach my teeth, the stained veneers are more prevalent. Is there ANYTHING I can do to brighten the veneers without having to replace them?

—Leah from North Carolina

Leah,

I'm not sure what you mean by staining, and saying that when you bleach the staining is more prevalent. There are several types of staining that you can have with porcelain veneers:

1.   The margins can stain around the edges of the veneers. This stain can be polished away by an expert cosmetic dentist, and it can be kept to a minimum with good expert maintenance of the veneers and a special toothpaste that is designed for using with porcelain veneers such as Supersmile whitening toothpaste.
2.   You can get a surface stain on the veneers. This will happen if the veneers have been improperly maintained so that they have scratched. If a hygienist has used a prophy jet or pumice polish on them, this will dull the surface and make them more susceptible to staining. This can also be fixed relatively easily with an expert diamond polish of the veneers themselves.
3.   There can be a staining that happens within the veneers or the bonding material. If this is what is happening, the only way to fix it is to replace the veneers. If the veneer is porcelain, it should not stain internally, but some dentists have been known to place resin veneers, which are susceptible to staining and deterioration, and lead their patients to believe they are porcelain. Also, the bonding composite that attaches the veneer to the tooth can, if it is not a premium bonding composite, deteriorate over time to a brownish or yellowish color.

My advice is to check with an expert cosmetic dentist from those we recommend on our site to see what type of staining is present and what can be done about it.

I hope this is helpful,

—Dr. Hall