Tooth whitening and fillings
Question:
I am a 54-year young female and would like to whiten my teeth. I have a filling in between my two front teeth. It, of course, is not the exact same white as my teeth.
Will whitening gel whiten the filling? If not, what are my options?
Thank you in advance.
—Cindy from Massachusetts
Cindy,
What you do if you whiten is to first do the
tooth whitening, then wait about two weeks and have the filling re-surfaced or re-done to match your new whiter color. The filling won't whiten. And you need to wait a couple of weeks after finishing the bleaching before doing the fillings, because it takes a little while for the color to stabilize after bleaching.
If there is tooth decay present, this has
to be filled before it is safe to bleach. Then later, the fillings need to be
re-surfaced, or the color won't match. If there is no decay, then just wait and do the fillings
later.
—Dr. Hall
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