Discoloured Front Tooth, Tooth Staining And Bleeding Gums

Dentist: Thomas Norlin.

Patient problem: Discoloured front tooth, tooth staining and bleeding gums.

Treatment: Hygienist treatment, and both internal and external air polishing and whitening.

Assessment

The patient, a male aged 30 years, attended Esthetique Dental complaining of pain in his tooth as the main problem, but he also suffered from bleeding gums and a discoloured front tooth. The history of the problem was an accident in childhood, and the tooth had gradually become discoloured after a previous root filling.

A crown had been suggested by a previous dentist. The patient decided against this due to the worry that the end result might not be ideal.

During his first examination, Thomas discovered that he suffered from a large decay in a molar, and the root-filled front tooth was unsatisfactorily filled. We also discovered early signs of gum disease, tartar and staining.

Together, we concluded that the best plan was to get the patient pain-free, then work on an oral-hygiene improvement to prevent further decay. After this, the journey to optimal oral health began.

Treatment

During his improvement of gum health, we root-filled the front tooth, which soon after felt like normal again to the patient. The stains were removed with air-polishing and the teeth lightened using tooth whitening. The root-filled front tooth was internally whitened and later filled with a small white filling at the back.

The end result is a minimally invasive cosmetic improvement for aesthetics. More importantly, the patient now has no pain, no gum disease and, due to his cleaning regime, we now have a low risk for problems in the future.