Bonding Turning Yellow After Five Days

I had dental bonding done only five days ago and now they are turning yellow. I do smoke so that might be the problem, but they didn’t say not to. I liked the color and look up until now. Will brushing with baking soda help with the stains or possibly can I whiten them to get them back where they were? My mother used to swear by baking soda toothpaste.

Lainie

Dear Lainie,

Teeth whitening only works on natural tooth structure so it won’t help with the dental bonding or any other type of cosmetic dental work.  There was a time when baking soda was touted as a great idea for getting stains off of teeth. The problem with that is that baking soda is quite abrasive. It will take off some surface stains but in the process will also damage the surface of the teeth. As a result, it makes it more susceptible to stains. So you know, the same thing is true about most modern “whitening” toothpastes. They also use abrasives, so I would stay away from them.

Smoking can stain teeth and dental bonding, but five days is an awful short amount of time for that to happen. I would call your dentist and have them polish these up to get back the color and shine. There are some dentists who will use inferior material for the bonding. I hope that is not the case with your dentist, but either way he should make this right.

Especially as a smoker, you want a toothpaste that helps remove surface stains. The only whitening toothpaste I would recommend is Supersmile Toothpaste. It is especially designed for cosmetic dental work, but is great for your natural teeth as well. Instead of using abrasives, it chemically removes the stains so that your teeth are not damaged during the process.

This blog is brought to you by Nashville Cosmetic Dentist Dr. David Wickness.