A dark, discoloured, black tooth is a sign your tooth may have died or is partially dead, most likely due to previous trauma or deep decay. Patients with a discoloured tooth often recall knocking their tooth in an accident some time ago which can then cause the nerve to die over time. The cause of the discolouration is thought to be decomposing blood products from the pulp inside the tooth.

The treatment of a discoloured tooth is to initially undergo root canal treatment if the tooth has not already been treated. This procedure is when the root canal chamber containing the nerve is emptied and disinfected, and a rubber filling is packed tightly inside the canal, see here for more details.

The dark (dead) tooth discolouration caused by the decomposing blood products is permanent, and will not go back to its original colour of its own accord, causing it to stand out from the rest of your teeth, and in turn possibly making you feel self-conscious about smiling.

There are two methods of restoring the tooth colour of the dark tooth: Either, by Internal Bleeching or by placing a veneer on the tooth.

Teeth & More offers internal bleaching to help solve this problem. Internal bleaching is similar to normal teeth whitening, but whitens the tooth from the inside. It can only be done after root canal treatment and will improve the discolouration after one session. The result however cannot be guaranteed to match the rest of your teeth, but will significantly improve its appearance. Internal whitening is amazing and treats discolouration very quickly. Please note in some cases a previous root canal filling maybe leaking, hence the dark colour of the tooth, in certain cases this root canal treatment may have to be redone, before the internal tooth whitening.