I am now 20 years old, but ever since I was young and my adult teeth came in, I have had brown spots on my front two teeth. I have always had excellent dental hygiene, and I was told that having a high fever as an infant is what caused the discoloration.

My dentist and I have tried all of the whitening products we can find, but it has only ever made the area around the spots whiter, making the discolored spots more obvious. She wants to grind away at the front of the teeth to see if that gets rid of the discoloration, but I’m scared to try that. She doesn’t know how much she will need to grind off or if it will cause me pain or more problems. Do you know of anything else that I could try? Would you recommend trying professional whitening? I really want to get rid of these awful spots!

-Malia from Florida

Malia,

I would not do any more experimenting with your dentist as this could cause considerable damage to your teeth.

You could continue to see your dentist for your regular care if you choose, but I would recommend finding someone who is a cosmetic dentist. Since your dentist didn’t understand that bleaching would make the spots worse, I wouldn’t trust her to fix the teeth by grinding the spots off.

Bleaching your teeth will not remove your spots. On the contrary, it usually makes the spots look even worse because it whitens all around the spot, as you have already experienced. An option that had a small chance of helping would be a process called microabrasion. I believe your best option will probably be tooth bonding or porcelain veneers. But please make sure to find a cosmetic dentist that is an expert in this area.

I hope you are able to find a solution!

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