What options are there instead of Veneers?My teen needs !!!

[Gennel]

Well my soon to be 17 yr old got her braces off 1 year ago. Her teeth are very straight and nice . There is a huge concern for her and everyone that always asks her the same freaking question! "What is that on your front tooth?" People assume its dirty . I was told by several dentist that its a calcification spot. It's pretty big and looks like a solid yellowish stain.
I asked about bleaching it that will make it bright white like if she has a spot of white out on her tooth and make it even more noticable.
I asked what are our options and was told Veneers on at least the two front teeth so they will match . One dentist said that it appears too deep to just sand down and apply a thin resin to it like a filling that matches your tooth color.

I would love to hear other options that you folks know of so I can ask the dentist about.My daughter really wants to have a nice white smile for her Graduation pictures. She has whitened her teeth before but its just a solid stain.
These are the only pictures I can find .

Wearing braces,you can see the spot .Its much bigger than a bracket


After braces,sun is real bright and blurry pic but you can see the spot


Gennel

[alimommy1]

I'm not sure what other options you have if the dentist says it is too deep to sand down a little. I have a small spot so I know what you're talking about but nobody notices it except me. Veneers (like lumineers) can be beautiful restorations and don't really damage teeth much - but I don't know if they last indefinitely. I would definitely think about it if there is no other way to fix it, calcification spots never go away.

[Gennel]

That's what I was thinking.My dentist is great but she doesn't seem too interested when I bring this subject up... So I am going to ask her to refer me to a friend of hers. They have never taken a close look at this tooth so it's a guess right now that the stain is too deep. I think it is too deep also because her teeth were sanded down well to get all the glue off from the brackets and this should have taken a little of the stain off but nothing came off. I'm also going to ask my orthodontist who does he recommend for something like this...


Gennel

[Gennel]

Trust me I've done my homework on Veneers and Lumineers. I dont like it! After I actually seen a video of how much of your own tooth is shaved off it freaked me out! I think it depends on the dentist. I have seen some dentist shave off a very small amount of tooth in order to apply a veneer. But Ihave seen videos of teeth being shaved off way too much! What I hate about that is that in a way once you get a Veneer you will always need to have a Veneer because if it falls off ,cracks or just gets damaged by age, you will have to fork over another $1,000 for one tooth! My sister has what looks like a Veneer on her front canine and she's had it over 20 yrs. When they put it on her it wasnt called a veneer but the procedure was the same. I can't ask my daughter to make a decision because she is too young and is not truly aware of what they have to do to your teeth to put a veneer on!

I am going to get a consultation and see if there are other options besides a veneer. If a veneer is the only option ,I want to make sure that a very minimal amount of her tooth is shaved. I dont want a trigger happy ...well "Tooth shaving Happy" dentist


Gennel

[jennielee81]

My youngest has a spot like this on her upper lateral. Hers is smaller and the dentist said she would drill it out (like a cavity) and fill it with bonding material.

The one on your daughter's tooth does appear to be far too big for this procedure.

Since this won't work for your daughter, vaneers may be the best option. There is one manufacturer that claims that only a very small amount of the tooth needs to be removed. I don't remember which one it was though.

My son got Davinci vaneers and they are beautiful. They should last 20-30 years with care. His teeth were damaged beyond repair by a baseball so we didn't worry about the removal of the enamel. It is true that he will be saddled with replacing them when he's in his 40's or 50's, but we're confident that he will be able to handle this himself by then.

[jmrut22]

I had a spot like that as well. It looks like a decalcification spot.

Mine was sanded down, it is gone completly. Maybe ask them to sand it a little and see how it looks then it may improve it enough that it doesnt bother her.

Mine went completely across the front two teeth sort of like a rainbow.

[Gennel]

Yes that is what dentists have told us. The only thing they can't agree on is Decalcification or Calcification.She has it on her front tooth and on about 3 more teeth but the other ones are way smaller.

Gennel

[platinum]

One dentist said that it appears too deep to just sand down and apply a thin resin to it like a filling that matches your tooth color.

I have fillings on my front teeth. They are tooth coloured but you can see them in some light and if you know to look for them. I guess other people wont see them that easy.

One thing with fillings, if you were to whiten your teeth the fillings wont whiten, so they might get more obvious.

[Gennel]

I found 1 possible treatment called Enamel Microabrasion.
The before and after photo galleries look promising.
Here's what they do.
A Prema abrasive paste mixed with 18% Hydrochloride acid is put on the tooth and sanded down.Usually 1-2 treatments is all that is needed.Now I need to start calling around to see who does this and how much does it cost. They say its much cheaper than veneers.


Gennel

[Gennel]

This explains the process a bit better than I did :

http://www.aapd.org/publications/brochu ... rasion.asp

This is one Before picture


'After picture of the same patient:


It seems that more Pediatric Dentist are more experienced with this procedure.

Gennel