What would a dentist do about teeth discoloration?

Filling cavities is up to a few hundred bucks a piece pending where you go. I have insurance through my employer and I think they paid like almost 200 per cavity the last time I had fillings (plus my $20 copay). A whitening treatment would be seen by most insurance companies as cosmetic so I doubt they’d pay anything on it.

I have no idea what crowns cost, I’ve never had one. A lot of dentists (not all) will do some kind of payment plan with you.

Just get him into a habit of brushing a lot more and he should be fine. Especially if he’s going to continue dipping (which is incredibly bad for your gums, moreso than your teeth) ... he should be brushing minimum twice a day if he wants to limit discoloration. Though one thing to keep in mind is that teeth are naturally an off yellow/white color. Every bright white tooth you’ve ever seen on a movie star, is actually bleached and/or pretty unhealthy/weak.

(mouth wash makes a huge difference too…. I went from 2–3 cavities a year to no cavities just by adding mouthwash at least 3 times a week).

Depends on the dentist.

If (s)he is an old school general practitioner (as my dad was), unless it is causing functional problems the recommendation is usually to ignore it unless it is so bad as to cause social problems.

OTOH, if (s)he is a commercially driven practitioner who makes a living pushing whatever products make the most profit, then I’m sure there are any number of professional grade whitening treatments that could be recommended.

@YoBob Well I’m more concerned about the cavities. You can’t ignore cavities, because they’ll just lead to the whole tooth being ruined. Having his front teeth extracted is far from where we’d like to be headed.

@livelaughlove21 Of course, cavities are a whole different story. They are much more than a cosmetic issue. As I understand it the “play book” goes something like this.

1) Fillings, provided the decay is not to advanced to stop with a filling.
2) Root canal and a crown in instances where the decay is more advanced.
3) If it is to the point where even with a root canal there will not be enough healthy base to attach a crown to, extraction and a partial.

Fillings on most dental insurance policy are covered for the majority of the cost ( agreed upon charges between DDS and insurance company ).
Crowns and caps can run $1500 to $3500 each.

A lot of this will depend on his dental coverage. The dentist’s office should be able to tell him what his insurance company will cover and what he will be responsible for before doing any work. He just needs to talk with them about it. They will also be able to discuss payment plans with him at that time.

The cavities would need to be filled. Depending on where they are located would determine what they would be filled with and the cost. Discoloration can be handled with whitening treatments, but most likely won’t be covered under his insurance. He could also ask his dentist if there is anything he would recommend such as whitening toothpaste, the whitening strips, or any other home methods that are available over the counter.

If he always keeps his dip in one area, he needs to start rotating it around to other areas.

@Seaofclouds The strange part is that he keeps his dip between his lower lip and gums, but it’s only the top front teeth that have the discoloration. Strange…