I’ve had my dental crowns for about 7 months. They’ve really begun to turn yellow, which surprises me. My dentist told me they’d be stain resistant. I do drink coffee every morning, but I brush my teeth twice a day so that shouldn’t be too bad. Do you know what’s going on?

Alice

Dear Alice,

This shouldn’t be happening to your crowns, if indeed that’s what your dentist gave you. There have been tales of dentists saying they gave porcelain crowns or porcelain veneers but actually gave them a composite resin.

There are some other issues which could be causing this as well. Seven months means you’ve had enough time for another checkup and cleaning. This is making me think your hygienist could have done something to them unknowingly.

Sometimes a hygienist doesn’t realize that certain tools and materials she uses can damage the glaze on porcelain. If your hygienist used something like a power prophy jet in your cleaning or even an acidulated fluoride it can remove or etch the surface of your porcelain crowns, causing them to pick up stains.

Repairing Stained Porcelain Crowns

You cannot use teeth whitening to repair the stains. Unfortunately, you’ll have to have these replaced. I’m going to suggest you give your dentist a chance to make this right. If he’s unwilling, you’ll have to get tough.

You can get a second opinion from another dentist about what happened to these crowns. I’m going to suggest you don’t tell the second dentist who did the work. Just tell him you want his unbiased opinion. There is always a chance they are friends and he’d feel disloyal saying his friend made a mistake.

Sometimes, when a dentist isn’t willing to listen to a patient, but will not want to look bad in front of a peer. That’s unfortunate but it does happen.

This blog is brought to you by Tulsa Dentist Dr. Noah Ryan.