Dental Health Check with Dr. Linda Niessen
Dental health topics from Dr. Linda Niessen of Baylor College of Dentistry
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 Tooth Trauma

By Dr. Linda Niessen
Monday, August 16, 2004

STORY:   TOOTH TRAUMA

A childhood tooth injury can become a life long problem. Trauma to a baby tooth may also lead to problems with the permanent tooth underneath. Dr. Linda Niessen explains the result is often a brown tooth. More in today's Dental Health Check. Nancy Walters was only three years old when she fell and damaged her front baby tooth. By age ten, the permanent tooth began to discolor. Now, 25 years after the accident, Nancy has chosen cosmetic dentistry to correct the problem. 

"I was just real self conscious about my smile. I've had bleaching before and it just didn't work. It would lighten the tooth up but then it would go right back to the grayish color."

Trauma to the front teeth can damage both the baby tooth and the developing permanent tooth underneath, because both depend on the same blood supply.
 
"Blood products that can be absorbed within the tooth and the other thing is the tooth is non-vital, or the nerve has died in the nerve has died in the tooth. It doesn't have the reflective qualities that a natural tooth would have," said dentist Dr. David Anderson. "It becomes duller. It's going to look darker."

A root canal can save the tooth and delay or prevent any discoloration. This is an x-ray of Nancy's root canal that lasted more than 15 years.

Now the solution is covering the brown tooth with the newest type of porcelain veneer.

"Because the veneer is so thin, and when \ we have a dark tooth behind it, what we need to do is block out the darkness and then we can veneer on top of that. And the bonding that we have now compared to several years back, is much better, much stronger."

"Oh I love my teeth. I always ask people which tooth do you think it is."

So if you're walking around with a discolored front tooth, look into a veneer as one option to improve your smile. For Baylor College of Dentistry, Texas A & M System, I'm Dr. Linda Niessen, Channel 8 News.

Dr. Linda Niessen, clinical professor in the Department of Restorative Sciences and  the Office of Communications and Development at Baylor College of Dentistry, hosts Dental Health Check, the only weekly dental feature shot on location in the nation.

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