Dear Dr. Hall,

I recently had porcelain veneers done on my upper six front teeth and four ceramic crowns on the ones next to them. My teeth were discolored and had some spacing. The problem is I do not like the color of the porcelain veneers and crowns. When telling my dentist this, he reassured me he did everything he could to mask the discolorations. He did not use an opaque core but told me he used the lightest possible. He also used "universal yellow" bonding cement which he said was an opaque. My porcelain veneers and crowns look gray in outdoor and fluorescent light and I only like them in indoor soft light. My dentist is trained in cosmetic dentistry and is a DMD. I don't know what to do. I really didn't expect the porcelain veneers to be perfect, especially since I did not do my lower. Now, my upper looks gray and my bottom looks yellow. Please give me your opinion about the matter. Am I just being unrealistic about what veneers can do for discolored teeth? I was told my teeth were only moderately dark. Thank you so much!

—Lynn in Minnesota

Dear Lynn,

Your dentist may have told you he is trained in cosmetic dentistry, but do you realize that he can legally claim to have this training even if he has done nothing more than graduate from dental school? Cosmetic dentistry is not a legally recognized specialty, which makes you really vulnerable here.

What you have told me does not show that your dentist is an expert in cosmetic dentistry. Porcelain veneers, if they are done right, do not look gray. But these color issues can sometimes be very complex and they definitely require special training beyond dental school. And the dentist needs to use a laboratory that has special training in porcelain veneers, and has to know how to communicate the degree of opacity necessary in the porcelain veneers. The fact that the veneers show a different color depending on the lighting situation indicates that maybe the laboratory isn't fully familiar with some of these color issues. It is possible to treat discolorations with beautiful porcelain veneers, by using opaquers and other color management techniques, but the dentist has to know what he or she is doing. See the photographs of work by porcelain veneer dentists who are members of our referral network, and you will see how beautiful these can be! Some of the teeth pictured had terrible discolorations before getting porcelain veneers.

Dr. Hall

Click here to read the other "cosmetic ."

Another cause of discoloration underneath these restorations is the chemical ferric sulfate. Read a bad experience one patient had with Lumineers and crowns, where Dr. Hall suspected ferric sulfate to possibly be the culprit.

Click here for referral to an expert cosmetic dentist, fully trained in porcelain veneers.

More information about porcelain veneers:

• Click here for general porcelain veneers information.
• For the porcelain veneer procedure, click here, where we explain what the cosmetic dentist does in each appointment, and click here to find out how to take care of your porcelain veneers after they're on. There's advice here for patients and for dental hygienists.
• What should I do if my porcelain veneers are too dark?
• Learn about costs of porcelain veneers.
• I'm getting stains on the edges of my porcelain veneers. How can I get rid of those?
• What can I do about my fake-looking porcelain veneers?
• Do porcelain veneers last very long? Some dentists say they don't