Causes of Discoloration After Root Canal Treatment in Front Teeth and the Treatment Method: Vital Tooth Whitening

Causes of Discoloration After Root Canal Treatment in Front Teeth and

The Treatment Method: Vital Tooth Whitening

One front tooth has an unusual color.

Since I mainly treat front teeth, I often meet people who say this.

Usually, they discover it after taking a selfie one day and noticing that only one front tooth looks dark, almost as if bruised. Haha

Childhood trauma to a front tooth

A front tooth that stands out in a grayish tone, even though it doesn’t have decay and hasn’t chipped.

Every time you look in the mirror, it catches your eye, and when you smile, you unconsciously cover your mouth.

If you were hit in the tooth after falling when you were young, experienced trauma, or have had root canal treatment, discoloration is progressing from the inside.

Today, I’d like to talk about the causes of discoloration after root canal treatment in front teeth and the treatment method called vital tooth whitening.

Why does the color become darker?

1. After root canal treatment

A root canal treatment completed tooth

Root canal treatment is a process that removes not only the nerve inside the tooth but also the blood vessels, which are the source of nourishment, in order to eliminate pain.

If nutrients and moisture are no longer supplied, the tooth changes like a dry old tree.

During this process, the dentin structure of the tooth gradually loses moisture, and as the organic material changes, it loses transparency and becomes darker.

2. After trauma

When the nerve slowly dies due to trauma (necrosis), the tooth often becomes much darker and duller in color than after root canal treatment.

When a strong impact is applied to a tooth, the tiny blood vessels in the nerve canal inside the tooth rupture, and the blood that leaks out cannot be discharged and becomes trapped.

The iron component in the blood (hemoglobin) seeps into the tiny pores in the tooth wall (dentin) and becomes fixed there. Over time, it decomposes and appears dark red or gray.

Root canal treatment removes the contaminated nerve cleanly, but in trauma-related necrosis, the dead nerve tissue remains inside the tooth and decomposes.

The gas and byproducts generated in this process contaminate the tooth tissue from the inside, which can cause even darker discoloration than a tooth that has had root canal treatment.

Because the color is darkening from inside the tooth, vital tooth whitening is needed to brighten the color from within.

How is vital tooth whitening for a non-vital tooth (a tooth with a dead nerve) performed?

Usually, when people think of whitening, they imagine applying medication to the outside of the tooth. But whitening for a non-vital tooth is different.

It is performed by placing medication inside the tooth. Let me briefly explain the process.^^

First, the tooth that has had root canal treatment is opened to check the inside.

After 1 week

Then, any medication or filling material near the opening of the root canal that could be causing discoloration is cleaned up.

In some cases, this process alone can make the color a little brighter.

After 2 weeks

Next, a whitening agent is placed inside the tooth and allowed to act for a certain period of time. The oxygen generated by this agent gradually brightens the tooth.^^

After 3 weeks

Depending on the condition of the tooth, it may be finished in one session, but usually it is repeated several times to match the color naturally with the adjacent teeth.

It is important to wait enough time for the oxygen to leave.

After completion

If you wait about two weeks, it will change to look like this, similar to a healthy natural tooth.^^

Can a tooth become dark again over time even after vital tooth whitening?

There is something I always tell patients when performing this treatment. Haha

Vital tooth whitening is a treatment that brightens tooth color, but it is not permanent.

After a few years, the color may darken again to some extent.

That is because teeth without nerves can undergo color changes over time.

Still, there is no need to worry too much.^^ It can be managed sufficiently by whitening again or by treatment to correct the color.

That is why I explain vital tooth whitening as a process of restoring color without shaving down the tooth.

If the color has changed, should you immediately get a crown?

Sometimes I hear this when a front tooth changes color.

Wouldn’t it be fine to just cover it with a crown

without going through this process?

Of course, there are cases where a crown is needed. But a crown requires a large amount of tooth reduction.

Usually, about 70% of the tooth has to be removed before a crown can be placed.

So especially for younger patients, if you do only vital tooth whitening → filling the resin hole, you can get a white tooth without a crown.

Treatment completed without a crown

I approach every treatment with the belief that because once a tooth is removed, it cannot be restored, we should preserve it whenever possible.

The stress of having just one front tooth turn dark is greater than you might imagine.

But to regain your smile, there is no need to rush into crown treatment that shaves down most of a healthy tooth.

The vital tooth whitening introduced today is the most “conservative” treatment, restoring a clear brightness from the inside while preserving as much of the tooth’s original structure as possible.

Although it is not permanent, a simple touch-up every few years can keep your teeth healthy and white for a long time.

Please consult with medical staff who will care for your teeth the most and help you use them healthily for a long time.

Shaving can always be done later, but once a tooth has been shaved down, it cannot be restored.

Until the day you regain your bright smile, I will think things through with you and do my best to provide treatment.

Thank you for reading this long post. This has been Dr. So Hyun-su of Jaejugood Dental Clinic.

👇🏻 Quick Reservation 👇🏻

👇 Posts worth reading together! 👇