When Your Smile Doesn’t Match
So, you look at yourself in the mirror and you see that sometimes your natural teeth aren’t really matching up with the crowns or veneers you’ve had done over the years. And you’ve tried bleaching strips. You may have even gone to the dentist office and got take-home bleaching trays. And you’re wondering why things aren’t matching up. Why aren’t these crowns and veneers matching up to your natural teeth? I’ve got a solution for you.
Why Natural Teeth Change Color Over Time
Hi, I’m Dr. Brett Langston. I’m a prosthodontist and the owner of Dental Implant Aesthetic Specialist here in Brookhaven, Georgia. And I’m here to help you watch your mouth.
Over time, your natural teeth are going to get a little bit darker and maybe a little bit more yellow. And that’s just normal wear and tear. The outer layer of that enamel tends to pick up stain. And even if you do a really good job of keeping them clean and getting professional cleanings or maybe even using at home bleaching trays, there’s only so much that you can do to get those teeth to a certain white level.
Why Crowns and Veneers Don’t Change Shade
And unfortunately, that change in shade doesn’t occur with crown and bridge work or even veneers. Those are made out of porcelain or zirconia. And the shade that those crowns and bridges are the day that they go in your mouth is the shade they’re going to stay until they get replaced.
So unfortunately, the day of the placement of those crowns and veneers, if they blend in with your mouth and look wonderful, that’s great. And there’s a good chance they may last that way for a long time. But over time your natural teeth will start to discolor and will start to pick up some stain and get a little bit of a darker hue.
What You Can Do When Things Stop Matching
At that point, you’re probably going to notice a little bit of difference between your crown and bridge or veneer work and the natural teeth. So, at that point, you’ve got a couple options.
What we always try and do here is lighten up your natural teeth to kind of match the shade that your crown and bridge work so everything looks uniform together. Unfortunately, sometimes we can’t get your natural teeth white enough to match the color of those crowns and bridges.
And at that point, what we usually do is go ahead and get your teeth as white as we can, as white as you’re happy with. And then we have to redo the crowns or veneers to match up to that existing tooth color. And at that point, everything will be uniform and it’ll look nice and you won’t notice the changes in shade from your natural tooth to the crown or veneer.
Myths About Changing Crown Color
Any product that tells you they can change the color of a crown or veneer is not true. Unfortunately, the chemistry and the mechanics of having a glazed layer and a sealed solid porcelain, once that porcelain is glazed and fired, it’s not going to change color.
So no matter what somebody tells you, you can’t go online and order some kind of paste and rub it on there. It doesn’t work on crowns and veneers or dental bridges.
Why Shade Selection Matters
So, the take-home message from this is I want you to make sure that whatever dentist you go to, you’re really happy with the shade of the crown or veneer or bridge that goes in your mouth and is permanently cemented. Because once it’s in there and it’s cemented, it’s not going to change colors.
So, definitely speak up. If you have a veneer or a crown that you don’t like, any good dentist is going to make sure that they redo it as many times as you need to make sure everything blends in and looks really nice.
Improving Natural Tooth Color
And I may be biased because I’m a dentist, but you don’t have to live with teeth that aren’t the exact same shade as your crowns and bridges. Come in, get a cleaning. There’s lots of ways that we can polish and clean your natural teeth up.
Even if you don’t want to go down the road of bleaching and you’re worried about the chemicals, just a good old-fashioned cleaning can do a really good job of getting off some old stain and some old discoloration. A lot of times those are caused just by natural aging or also the foods and beverages that we eat.
So, regular cleanings are great to clean your teeth back to that natural color.
Lifestyle Factors That Affect Tooth Color
And it’s 2025, so I shouldn’t have to say this, but if you’re drinking five cups of coffee and smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, your teeth are going to discolor. They’re going to get stained. And obviously, as they get more and more stained, they’re going to look a lot different than the color of the crowns and veneers that you have put in.
So over time, those natural habits are going to make the teeth discolor.
What You Can Control
So here are some things that you can do that you have full control over that you can change the shade of your natural teeth before we have to go down the road of crowns or veneers.
So number one, and the most important, is lifestyle changes. There are a lot of foods out there and drinks. Coffee, tea, smoking cigarettes, red wine, strawberries, blueberries. Unfortunately, there are lots of healthy foods as well that will stain your natural teeth.
So my advice to you is if you want to eat healthy, which is great, and you eat some of those foods that might have a staining effect, make sure you rinse with some water afterwards to kind of clean that off the teeth.
The Importance of Regular Cleanings
And second, come in to get regular cleanings. Every six months, come in, see our dental hygienists. They do a really good job. We’ve got great materials and great methods to clean off kind of built-up stain and debris on the teeth, have your teeth kind of refreshed, natural looking color.
Whitening the Right Way
And third, if you do decide to go down the road of whitening your natural teeth, make sure you come to a dental professional. We have the right materials that we can recommend that are just strong enough to get the job done without causing any damage to the gum tissue or adjacent tooth structures.
And a lot of times people think if I use the super aggressive bleaching toothpaste, my teeth are going to be super white. And while those might work on the short term, the way they work is by really large particle size. And unfortunately, it does do a good job of removing some debris on the teeth, but it can also leave scratches in the enamel, which will then stain.
And so, you’re kind of perpetuating damage to your tooth by using overly aggressive bleaching materials.
Final Options
And so, the final option you have is through natural bleaching or dietary changes. If we can’t get your teeth to all match and blend together, we can always redo some old crown and bridge work or old veneers to kind of get everything back on the same page and lined up looking nice again.
Final Thoughts
I’m Dr. Brett Langston and I really want to help you make your smile look pretty in 2026. So come see us if you have any questions or concerns about the way your teeth look or your smile looks and we’d love to help you out.
So if you’d like to make an appointment, click on the link below and that’ll take you to our website where we can get your information. We’ll reach out to you to get you in so we can meet you and see how we can help you out.
I’m Dr. Brett Langston. I’m here to help you watch your mouth.
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