Do you have one discolored tooth that is disrupting your beautiful smile? Tooth discoloration is common after dental injuries, but knowing that doesn’t make it any easier to live with a discolored tooth in your mouth. There are a number of cosmetic dentistry procedures that you can use to fix a single discolored tooth, depending on what your needs are. We’ll go over some of those options below so you can get an idea of what you may be in store for.
Colored Crowns
One way that some cosmetic dentists will fix a discolored front tooth is to install a colored crown that matches the color of the rest of your teeth. This is similar to a crown you may get after a root canal, but it is designed for cosmetic purposes. Dental crowns are also used to cover cracked teeth and strengthen weak teeth after injury. If the dental injury that caused your tooth to discolor has also caused the tooth to weaken, a crown could solve both of your problems at the same time.
Teeth Whitening
If the discolored tooth is only slightly darker than the rest of your teeth, you may be able to use teeth whitening to make your teeth look similar in color. This will not work for teeth that are severely discolored because they will still be darker after the bleaching procedure. While we can try to target the discolored tooth in the whitening process, it may be best to use another option to fix your dental discoloration.
Porcelain Veneers
Porcelain veneers are thin strips that go over a tooth to cover it up or change its cosmetic shape. These work well for teeth that are strong and healthy overall because they require less shaving than a dental crown would. In other words, you can keep more of your existing tooth with a veneer than you would with a crown. We will match the veneer to be as close in color as possible to the rest of your smile so no one will know that you have gone through cosmetic dentistry.
Dental Implants
A dental implant is a permanent replacement tooth that is put in place of the discolored one. This works well if you have a couple discolored teeth next to one another because the implant can cover several teeth at once. Dental implants do not work well for everyone, depending on the shape of your mouth and the location of the discolored tooth.
Contact our office to schedule a consultation, and we’ll help you determine which cosmetic dentistry procedure is right for you.
