White teeth are a sign of good health and the hallmark of a beautiful smile. Professional teeth whitening is the fastest and easiest way to achieve white teeth, but there are some caveats. If you don’t have any existing upgrades, whitening is the likeliest path to brightness. If you do have smile makeover cosmetic dentistry treatments, whitening your smile will require some creative edits.
Understand How Teeth Whitening Works
The most important fact to understand about professional teeth whitening is that it is designed to whiten tooth enamel – it will not whiten resin or porcelain or composite, just porous tooth enamel. Your NYC cosmetic dentist’s bleaching products are incredibly powerful and transform teeth that can be whitened, but they are not designed to alter other cosmetic dentistry treatments. So, no, you cannot whiten existing cosmetic dentistry, but you can work around it.
Target Tooth Enamel and Beyond
When you cover up some of your natural teeth with porcelain veneers, porcelain crowns, dental bonding, or tooth-colored fillings, what you see is what you get. If the treatments are bright white, then those teeth are too. Over time, some patients notice their teeth with cosmetic dentistry look the same while neighboring, untreated teeth become stained, discolored, and age in unfriendly ways.
Professional whitening might work well on the natural teeth and equal the cosmetically treated teeth, but if you want your entire smile to be the same bright white and not vary in color so that it’s noticeable, it’s time to talk cosmetic dentistry across the board.
Invest in Complete Cosmetic Dentistry
If you’re one of the lucky ones who has taken great care of existing veneers or crowns and maintained these strong and stain-resistant transformations, you may be able to get whitening on the rest of your teeth to improve appearance. However, if you had cosmetic dentistry years ago, you may have reached a point where it’s time to replace existing cosmetic dentistry with modern transformations that may or may not include whitening. Here’s why:
- One and done. It’s more effective to transform your smile in one way with one method, like prepless veneers. Teeth will be uniform and look white, bright, and flawless. You won’t have to worry about some parts of your smile deteriorating while others stay the same.
- Reverse aging. Cosmetic dentistry lasts for decades when done well, but wear and tear, teeth grinding, and accidents can lead to problems and require an entire smile makeover. Teeth whitening won’t be enough, and you’ll be happier to address all your teeth.
- Natural look. You want a smile that looks natural, and the best way to make that happen is with one or two powerful cosmetic dentistry treatments, like veneers on top teeth and teeth whitening on the bottom.
Get Cosmetic Dentistry in Manhattan
Whitening teeth isn’t only about teeth whitening, it’s about investing in the most appropriate cosmetic dentistry treatment from your NYC cosmetic dentist that gives you a white smile. Dr. Michael J. Wei will determine what level of whitening could be helpful, if your teeth are in a position to benefit most from veneers or crowns, and design a customized smile makeover just for you. Sign up for a free video consult or schedule an in-person consultation.
