My parents are big believers in doing research before you ask for anything. I have a retainer which has a fake tooth attached. It replaced a missing lateral incisor. That tooth has been missing my whole life. It just never came in. I’m going into my senior year of high school in the fall. My junior year I took 6 AP classes. I spent a lot of nights drinking coffee to stay awake while studying. Now my teeth are stained. I’d like to get my teeth whitened, but first I’ll need to know whether the whitening could damage my fake tooth before I ask my parents.
Lizzie
Dear Lizzie,
Teeth Whitening Trays
How great that you’re taking the initiative and figuring things out. You’ve asked an important question too. My guess is you did quite respectably on all six of your AP exams.
It is perfectly safe for you to whiten your teeth while having a fake tooth. The only real issue that will come up is that the whitening gel will only whiten natural tooth structure. That means your teeth will likely be whiter than your fake tooth. Because it is a visible tooth, you’ll want to have that replaced to match the whiter color of your teeth.
A Permanent Replacement for Your Lateral Incisor
When you’re old enough and your jaw is completely developed, you can have a permanent replacement for your tooth. Talk to your parents about dental implants. It’s something they’ll want to start looking into now and preparing for.
Once you graduate, your jaw may be ready. This is a surgical procedure. The best thing is it is totally secure. You won’t have to worry about it coming out. You can eat what you like and brush and floss it as you would your natural teeth.
The only thing is to make sure of two things.
1. You’ll want someone with a lot of implant training and experience. It is an advanced procedure.
2. Matching a single tooth isn’t easy. You’ll want an expert cosmetic dentist as well to do your implant crown.
This blog is brought to you by Dr. Theodore Hadgis.