Dentist may have ruined my tooth.

[Sawyer9]

Hi, I'm absolutely fuming. My tooth has been ruined after a treatment I had at the dentist. I had stain removal on my teeth a week ago and it went really well, I was happy with it, the first time I checked it, however, there was a small hole at the top of one my front teeth, which had the worst stain on it before. I thought the stain itself, which had been there for years, had maybe caused the hole, but this particular tooth has developed something else which may be linked.

I woke up this morning, and the same tooth has now been discoloured most of the way down. It's gone yellow, and stops at the bottom with a small whiter patch. My teeth have never been fantastic in terms of whiteness, but that colouring was definitely not there before. It's only happened overnight, how is that possible?!

What on Earth has happened? Has the enamel gone? I'm going to go back to the dentist and get this rectified as their treatment has ruined my tooth, and I'm not paying some ridiculous fee, either!

 

[Dr M]

Hey it sounds like the dentist might have missed a possible cavity on your tooth. Depending on what type of "stain removal" procedure was performed, a dentist should always do a proper clinical and radiological assessment before initiating the treatment, to rule out any problems from arising from the above said treatment. Some procedures can lead to sensitivity problems, nerve damage with resultant necrosis or irreversible inflammation of the nerve and discolouration.
It is important to remember that some procedures are very diet sensitive with some having a certain amount of time that you have to abstain from certain " stain inducing " foods such as coffee and red wine etc.
Go back to your dentist and find out what has been done or can be done to fix the problem.

 

[Sawyer9]

Hey it sounds like the dentist might have missed a possible cavity on your tooth. Depending on what type of "stain removal" procedure was performed, a dentist should always do a proper clinical and radiological assessment before initiating the treatment, to rule out any problems from arising from the above said treatment. Some procedures can lead to sensitivity problems, nerve damage with resultant necrosis or irreversible inflammation of the nerve and discolouration.
It is important to remember that some procedures are very diet sensitive with some having a certain amount of time that you have to abstain from certain " stain inducing " foods such as coffee and red wine etc.
Go back to your dentist and find out what has been done or can be done to fix the problem.

Hey. Well, the actual hole itself is where the stain was; I thought it had been under the stain for a long time, but maybe the dentist was too forceful with the machine that it caused a hole? I can see it when I look in the mirror, it's not massive but it's not entirely small, either.

 

[Dr M]

Hey. Well, the actual hole itself is where the stain was; I thought it had been under the stain for a long time, but maybe the dentist was too forceful with the machine that it caused a hole? I can see it when I look in the mirror, it's not massive but it's not entirely small, either.

Sometimes you can have a lesion that we call incipient caries. This can progress to a brown stain that is soft, but not yet cavitated, which is a more advanced carious lesion.
When the dentist scaled with his scaler, it could have caused the lesion to form a cavity. This would have happened on it's own if left alone anyway.
It sounds like you might need a restoration or filling to be done on the tooth.
Go back to the dentist to evaluate the lesion as well as the yellow/white part. Sometimes the yellow/white part can still be reversed before it becomes a brown cavity.
Don't wait to long before doing this, since carious lesions can spread deeper and start affecting the nerve of the tooth.

 

[Dr. Ashmita Upadhyay]

Hello, as you said it was a hole, there might be a cavity that is more visible after scaling. Get your cavity treated either by a filling or by a RCT followed by a crown.