I’ve developed weird brown spots on my teeth. My dentist said it looks like I’m getting too much fluoride. My city recently added fluoride to our drinking water, so I’ve switched to non-fluorinated bottled water. I do drink a lot of green tea, which I just found out is also loaded with fluoride so I guess this is the case. Would bonding help me with these stains if I give up the tea?
Kevin
Dear Kevin,
Why in the world your dentist told you fluorosis caused your brown stains is beyond me. It’s beyond incompetence. Every dentist should know that fluorosis stains are developed in childhood while your adult teeth are forming. You would have had them when your adult teeth first came in. Adults do not develop fluorosis. You seriously need a more competent dentist.
Types of Teeth Staining
External Stains
This is when something attaches itself to the outside of the teeth and should be easily removed. A great toothpaste for this type of staining is Supersmile Toothpaste. It’s also what most cosmetic dentists recommend for their patients who had cosmetic work done on their teeth.
Internal Stains
These are stains absorbed into the teeth, usually by food and drink. Two of the biggest culprits for these are coffee and tea. You mentioned you drank a lot of tea, so this is most likely the culprit in your case.
Teeth Whitening Verses Bonding
For internal stains, the only thing which will remove it is teeth whitening. Professional teeth whitening is very strong and will give you that youthful white you started out with. While dental bonding would cover the stains, this treatment has two distinct disadvantages.
- It is significantly more expensive than teeth whitening.
- It requires an expert cosmetic dentist.
Which treatment you do is totally up to you. If you decide to cover the stain with bonding, to get an attractive, natural-looking result I’d look on the mynewsmile.com website. They have a search function for expert cosmetic dentists by area.
Any of the dentists recommended on their site will do a fine job for you.
This blog is brought to you Grosse Pointe Woods Dentist Dr. Theodore Hadgis.