My tooth has turned black after brace treatment, what can I do?

Q.
Dear Dr. Hughes,

After I got my braces put on 4 years ago my right front tooth turned gray/black at the top. My dentist told me that It lost blood flow and was dying. He said I must have had some tooth injury as a child where it was damaged, and with the braces moving it, it lost its blood flow completely. I do not recall any tooth injury as a kid but that was my dentists best guess. I had a root canal but it is still very dark. Now my braces are off and it is very dark and embarrassing. Will it fall out? What are my options to get it fixed? The dentist I used said it was an osteopathic tooth death. I am afraid if I pay to get a crown, it will then fall out and so I do not want to get a crown if there is a chance it will fall out anyway. Also it sometimes has a weird sensation, not necessarily pain but I can feel the tooth and it isn’t pleasant. I do not smile now and I really want it fixed with the best possible outcome. Thank you so much!

A.
Hi and thanks for writing in

I’d suggest that you get the quality and integrity of the origianl root canal assessed by an endodontic specialist first, to ensure the tooth has no recurring infections, and then either a veneer or crown, with or without some internal bleaching of the tooth beforehand, should help to improve the dark appearance. If the root canal is sound , then you should not lose the tooth simply by crowning it

I’d advise that you book an appointment with your nearest experienced cosmetic dentist and look into all your options

Kind regards

Mark

Dr Mark Hughes Harley Street Dental Studio 52 Harley Street, London W1G 9PY Web: www.harleystreetdentalstudio.com Tel: 020 7636 5981 View My Profile Dr Hughes
September 29th, 2011 at 08:47 PM
Jazz Says :

Ok, thank you so much Doctor!

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