Please tell me you can help me. I’m in absolute agony. My gums feel like they’re on fire and my teeth are dark and splotchy everywhere I had fillings done. I think all this happened because I went to a mall teeth whitening store instead of a dentists office, but thought I did my research. I talked to the lady in charge. She said all their employees are certified teeth whitening specialists. That put my mind at ease. They were also half the price of my dentist so I felt like it was a win/win. This has been the worst win of my life. I’m such an idiot! Can it be fixed?

Ashley P.

Dear Ashley,

Please don’t be so hard on yourself. I’m sure the saleswoman talked a good game. They’re obviously more trained in marketing and sales than they are in actual teeth whitening. You should know off the bat that there is no such thing as a certified teeth whitening specialist. At best, it may be a certificate they give out in-house to their employees. It sounds good, but it’s meaningless.

They missed several important steps here. First and foremost during the procedure, it sounds like they didn’t protect your gums. If they did an in-office teeth whitening, such as Zoom Whitening a dentist might use, they should have placed a gel on your gums to protect them from both the light and the tooth whitening gel. Even at-home trays that your dentist gives you to do at your convenience are custom designed to protect your gums. They left you unprotected.

You’ll want to take some ibuprofen if you can to try to help with the pain. I’m sorry you’re going through this.

Fixing Your Teeth Whitening Disaster From Here

Thankfully, your smile can be fixed. Another thing they dropped the ball on was evaluating your current smile. Once they saw you had fillings they should have told you that whitening will not have any effect on your fillings. So, while your surrounding natural tooth structure will whiten, the fillings stay the same, creating a blotchy smile, as you’ve seen on your teeth.

There are two ways to go about fixing this. The first is simply to replace your filling to match the new color. This is sufficient if all you want to change is the blotchiness.

There’s another option, but it is significantly more expensive. I’d only do it if you want a complete smile makeover. By that I mean there are other things you want to change about your smile like its shape, size, or character. In that case, you could get porcelain veneers. But make sure your dentist has some expertise in the area.

This blog is brought to you by Kalamazoo Dentist Dr. Susan Dennis.