Did Crest Whitestrips Cause Her to Need a Root Canal Treatment?
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I am worried about a situation with a tooth. Years ago, I had an accident that caused some trauma to the tooth. Since then, that tooth has turned darker than the others and the gum is a bit recessed. This bothered me and I spoke to my dentist about it. He suggested I use Crest Whitestrips. I was fine for the first week. But, then the tooth started to bother me. I became sensitive to cold and now it is sensitive to heat. He wants me to have a root canal treatment next week. Is this really what I need? Do Crest Whitestrips have a risk of infecting a tooth? Should my dentist have warned me about that?
Richard
Dear Richard,
It would be very rare for something like Crest Whitestrips to lead to an infected tooth. They’re way too mild to make any difference. Before you move forward with the root canal treatment, I would like you to get a second opinion, preferably from a root canal specialist.
The sensitivity to cold doesn’t bother me, but the senstivity to heat makes me wonder if it will heal on it’s own. There have been cases where a tooth was on the edge and something like teeth whitening could throw it over the edge. This is one of the reasons I always recommend that someone be under the care of a dentist even with something as simple as teeth whitening.
I’m not sure why your dentist even recommended this as a solution for your gray tooth to begin with. Even if the Whitestrips were stronger, they only whiten your front six teeth, and they will do that evenly, which means the dark tooth will still be darker than the rest of them. This suggestion of his shows a profound lack of understanding in how teeth whitening works.
A better solution would be to get a porcelain veneer placed on the darker tooth. However, this is an extremely advanced procedure. I would not trust your dentist to do it. Teeth whitening is one of the easiest cosmetic procedures. He has a profound lack of understanding on how that worked. Porcelain veneers will be way out of his wheelhouse. Look for someone with post-doctoral training in placing them.
This blog is brought to you by Mt. Dora Dentist Dr. Michelle Stillman.