Shouldn't your question be posed to the highly recommended endodontist who's treating your son? His or her expert knowledge regarding treatment and alternatives is certainly of superior value to anything anonymous people would tell you.

Good luck.

I have to assume Mrs. S ( and I love that username by the way)...is seeing if anyone has had any experience with this. I'm wondering if the too whiteness will fade into a more natural shade. Let us know what the endo says.

Yes, of course, I plan to call tomorrow, and set up an appointment. But sitting here for a few days waiting is making me want to have information at my fingertips, right now.

I'm not so sure about asking or getting answers from "anonymous" people. Sometimes, it's good to research something and get a little bit of information so you know what kinds of questions to ask.

Just so everyone is aware, I'm not asking people to help me make a medical decision for my son. This is an aesthetic concern. And, since I have multiple physician family members, I know all too well how many "highly recommended" medical practitioners make mistakes. They are human. And guess what? They have different ways of approaching problems. So if anyone has personal experience or knowledge that might be helpful to me, while I'm waiting to hear back from our endodontist, I'd appreciate your input.

Thanks!

I've never had a root canal that WASN'T followed by a crown personally.

"is making me want to have information at my fingertips, right now."

Call the endodontist and ask if you can speak with them before the appointment. If not, you just have to wait. I'd ignore anything you hear from anyone else.

"I have multiple physician family members,"

I know many physicians think they know everything about everything but of course it isn't so. In my experience, physicians know rather little about dentistry.

Dentistry and its aesthetic aspects require the experts to understand both the science and the art of what's possible and what can be/needs to be done. Anyone else is guessing.

Wait to talk to your expert.

This seems rather circular. I never said I even ASKED my physician family members about my son's tooth. In fact I have not. The reason I brought that up is because, based on my experience, different good physicians have different approaches to treating problems (even common problems). We all have developed a bit of a knowledge base about certain diseases, conditions, and aesthetic procedures based on experience.

Elmer, you need not fear that I will take anyone's advice here, without discussing it with our endodontist first! I do not agree that others are just "guessing". I'm not asking anyone to predict an outcome or help us decide what to do. Thanks for your advice about speaking to an expert. Since I have already stated that is what we are doing, and will continue to do, I think you are purposefully being contrarian. Boy, I bet your advice would be very welcome over on the Health Forum!

Can someone who understands my question weigh in?

Mrs. S, I UNDERSTAND YOUR QUESTION. You would like a comment from SOMEONE (OR SOMEONE IN THEIR FAMILY) WHO HAS HAD THE SAME THING HAPPEN. What the outcome was and what were the options.

I wish I could help, but that particular problem we have not had. We have come across almost everything else. Please ignore the ones that cannot read. Hoping for a good outcome for your son.

I understand your question as well, and like Sherry I wish I had some experience with this situation to give you alternatives but I don't.

My son did have a black tooth from having walked into the polestand of a basketball hoop but it was a baby tooth.

A tooth that has had a root canal should have a crown placed on it afterward for strength.

Interesting approach...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/9922762/?i=3&from=/18358884/related

Not to divert the topic but I want to add this: Mrs. S clearly stated why she is asking a question on this forum just as the topic would come up among friends. The doctor sometimes says, "Do you have any other questions?" Well there are often questions you think of later. You may hear that another patient had a less intrusive procedure. You may hear about some negative outcomes. These are things you want to address with your doctor. And besides, it's just human to compare notes. Smart people do that and they know how to sift out the bad advice. Why not assume that Mrs. S is smart.

Not true about a tooth that has had a root canal needs a crown

I assumed nothing about Mrs. S. But her two main questions were:

"I hope someone can tell me what expectations I should have in this circumstance"

and

"Is this the best that can be done without doing a veneer?"

I suspect that a skilled dentist who hadn't seen her son would NOT answer these questions. Asking non-professionals these questions is even less useful. That's why I suggested the one source to consult was the endodontist. If she's not satisfied with what they say, the alternative is to have her son seen by someone else.

As per my grandmother, " If you can't say anything nice or even constructive, don't say anything at all."

I considered it constructive.

NOT! You did not indicate that you had EVER had this done to your tooth.

Exactly right. You should follow your own advice.

My constructive advice was to restrict questions and information gathering to the expert provider who had seen the condition and could apply his/her knowledge to the treatment. .

I did, you didn't. You are the one that can't read.

I was going to ignore such a silly comment but then I remembered this, which might be the approach you frequently use for comments. The whole thing is worth watching but if you're pressed for time, you can start at the 1:30 point

Argument clinic

There are those who are task-driven and those who are people-driven. Both are fine (necessary even), but there are often problems when the two don't recognize the difference or legitimacy of the other.

Those who are task driven strive to solve the problem or complete the task, others and their feelings be damned. Those who are people oriented tend to focus on feelings and may not take a direct route to solving the problem.

Neither is more right or wrong than the other and, IMHO, both are needed for a community to run well.

Injected bleach into the tooth, huh? Are you sure this was exactly what happened? I've had a couple of root canals due to injured teeth dying. One of those had abscessed and the dentist loaded the hollowed out root with an antibiotic to make sure no infectious agent remained before he plugged the tooth. After waiting a week, the tooth was examined for infection before clearing and plugging the canal.

It is my understanding that bleaching is a topical process where a bleaching agent is applied to the surface of the tooth. Most natural human teeth are not pure white, but are varying shades of off-white. If his tooth is now whiter than his adjacent teeth and those teeth show, it will be noticeable. You say that you are bummed. How does your son feel about it? That's an important consideration as well. Before I'd get too upset about it, I'd confer with the dentist (or a different specialist if you don't trust him/her) to get an idea how this tooth's color may change. It may not stay bright white forever. After all, there is some degree of stain on the other teeth and that one may stain as well.

So, here's an update. Son went in, and I had another urgent matter and couldn't be there, eerrrrggghhh. But I did speak with the endodontist on the phone, briefly.

He said it can take a few tries to get the right coloration on the tooth, and if we don't get where it needs to be, a veneer is always a possibility. I understood him to say that he can remove the bleach substance that's in there (via a small hole drilled in the back of the tooth, and put it back in (in a different amount). When we get to the right color, the small access hole is then sealed. For anyone who cares to google it, it is called "internal tooth bleaching". It's a thing. How well it's going to work is a question that will only be solved with time, because it takes a few days for the shade of the bleach injection to reveal itself.

I'll continue to update, maybe with a photo at some point. Thanks for everyone's help. If anyone out there has had this done, I'd appreciate hearing about your experience! Thank you!

Oh, one more thing. Son did NOT like the front tooth dead and grayed looking. He has a wide smile and beautiful, even teeth with an excellent bite, which was improved even more with orthodontic work a few years ago. He wears a retainer consistently every night, and appreciates very much the work and expense on his smile. He wants his smile to look nice again, though he is not a perfectionist nor obsessed about appearance. He keeps asking me, "How does it look, mom? What do you think?" I hope that answers questions about what son thinks. A fair question.

If the bleaching isn't ultimately successful, you've been given an alternative. When veneers don't work or if there's a problem in the future, the tooth can always be extracted and replaced with a perfect match on an implant post. I believe these are all pretty vanilla procedures, especially for one tooth, and not something to worry about. Ultimately, the repair should be acceptable. Good luck.

Your son is young. Even if he replaced that tooth right now eventually it will be a slightly different shade than the rest of his teeth unless he has them all replaced at the same time because teeth absorb small stains as you age. You might have his dentist explain this to him now so that in a year or so he will not be having problems with that tooth or any of his teeth being the exact same shade. No other comment about process but have crowns that no longer match the rest of my teeth because of this. They matched perfectly years ago.

I'd get a second opinion.

If your son wants a veneer one day, the kind that are commonly done for teeth which have had root canal treatment is a post crown. The root of the tooth is left in the jaw and the 'post' of the crown is inserted into it.

Implants are more recent things. My dentist doesn't do them.

I've learned something from this post. I was unaware that a bleaching agent could be successfully put inside a tooth.

Endodontist=

Endo - root comes from "inside"

dontist - root comes from "tooth"

Endodontists are dental specialists with a few years of specialty training after dental school who focus on treating and saving natural teeth. Root canals and other treatments involving the interior of teeth are their domain.

A broken, infected, or otherwise troubled tooth can always be pulled to eliminate the problem, that's the cheapest thing to do and that's why you often find poor people with missing teeth. Troubled teeth can often be saved but that costs some money. That's the domain of the endos.