What causes a single dark tooth/

Denver dentist Dr. James DeLapp received an e-mail the other day from a patient inquiring about the cost of dental veneers on two front teeth that he had injured some years ago. The question posed by this patient is interesting because they wanted to know “if” dental veneers would solve the problem. The short answerer is both yes and no… it depends on the status of the tooth. The darkening may be benign or evidence that the tooth is becoming necrotic and in need of a root canal. The treatments can vary tremendously so getting the diagnosis right is the most important element

Cause of Tooth Discoloration

Our Denver dental office wants to first determine the “cause” of the discoloration first. In this case it appears to be from trauma. The areas to look at or examinations needed to be completed include but are not limited to:

• Color of the tooth compared the the adjacent teeth
• Color of the gums around each tooth
• Pulp testing of the tooth
• Dental x-rays

Trauma etiology of a single dark tooth

A vital or healthy tooth may be darker due to trauma and the resultant bleeding into the tooth.  The teeth may discolor form external or internal resorption or cavities or leaking dental fillings.  In summary there are so many things to consider and getting the diagnosis correct will lead to the best treatment for the tooth

Call our Denver Dentist today

Please feel free to contact us at (303) 694-9740 for an appointment.

Sedation for root canals in Denver and Highlands Ranch

Fear and anxiety has been shown time and time again to be a barrier for many patients to seek dental care they want to have done.  In many instances this fear has lead to a deterioration of their dental health to the point where extraction of the offending tooth or… a  root canal is the only alternative.  For many patients “minimal” sedation may help get you through the procedure.  For others moderate or deep sedation may be the answer. Currently our Denver and Highlands Ranch sedation dentists are providing sedation dentistry for their patients needing a root canal.  Please call (303) 694-9740 to see if sedation dentistry is for you.

Studies cited by Malamed (2010) indicate that many patients request some type of dental sedation for a root canal. The range of sedation requested ranges from something as simple as nitrous oxide all the way up to general anesthesia in a hospital setting.  The good news is that many (but not all) patients can be effectively treated with either nitrous oxide or “minimal” sedation and local anesthetics

Don’t wait till a tooth hurts to seek care!

Our Denver and Highlands Ranch dental office want you to seek treatment before it becomes an emergency.  As a general rule… the earlier the intervention the greater success and comfort for the procedure. Waiting until the offending tooth to form an abscyss in not recommended. The infection and swelling can become so severe that the only alternative is extraction.

Sedation Dentistry treatment algorithm

Our goal is to use the sedation protocol that will accomplish our task as simply as possible.  As the patient proceeds down the algorithm the more complex the sedation becomes and the general risks increase.  While sedation dentistry is very safe… every attempt should be make to solve you anxiety and fear problem at the lowest level possible.  The algorithm is as follows and includes profound local anesthesia

• Early intervention with local anesthesia
• Nitrous oxide/oxygen sedation
• Oral Sedation (anxiolysis)
• “Minimal Sedation” with oral medication with our without nitrous oxide/oxygen
• “Moderate Sedation” “usually with I.V. sedation
• “Deep Sedation”
• “General anesthesia” in a hospital setting

Preoperative evaluation

As a general rule of thumb some type of preoperative evaluation needs to be done in order to have any sedation past the nitrous oxide/oxygen level. First the prognosis on the offending tooth needs to be reasonable.  Patient expectations of the sedation level needs to be realistic with the proposed level.  Root canal are successful bu 5-10% of root canals fail so informed consent needs to be given to the patient for both the root canal AND the sedation protocol PRIOR to any sedation administered! General health status of the patient needs to be evaluated an appropriate medical consultations completed.

Rules of Sedation

While these two and “not” the only rules of sedation by any means… these two “rules” are most appropriate.  First you MUST have a driver to take you home and monitor you after  your sedation AND you must not have had anything to eat and drink 6 hour prior to the procedure. Driving while impaired is risky to yourself and to the public in general.  Nausea and vomiting while uncommon can produce significant post operative problems

Call our Denver Sedation Dentists today

Please call (303) 694-9740 for an appointment today.

Thanks to Scott Carvin of US Web Central for his help with our websites and Blogs.  He can be reached by clicking on the following link Denver Web Desing and SEO

Root Canals in Denver

Root canals have a historically undeserved poor reputation.  The brunt of many joke is … I would rather have a root canal than _________! The idea conveyed is  a root canal is something to be avoided at all cost. Denver Dentists Dr. James DeLapp and Dr. H. Candace DeLapp provide endodontic therapy (root canal) in their Denver and Highlands Ranch Dental office.

to view our dental practice video click the following link Denver Dentistry

A vast majority of root canals are not painful

A vast majority of root canals are not painfull. In these situation the treatment is no worse that having a dental filling completed. It is true that in a minority of cases root canal are uncomfortable or even painful.  Why is this? Our Denver dentists have found that many (but not all) painful root canals are on teeth with significant infections.  Most of these have occured because the patient has delayed seeing a dentist until they “had to”. Our Denver dentist opinion from years of experience is  local anesthetic works poorly in an area where there is significant infection. The challenges becomes trying to find an area where local anesthetics will work.  In some instances there is no good area to go to.

Get your tooth treated sooner than later

To mitigate the risk of painful root canals our Denver dentists recommend that you seek treatment sooner than later.  In addition…. as a general rule of thumb… root canals are 90-95% successful.  That means 5-10% of root canals fail or do not work.  This failure rate is significantly increased if there is a delay in beginning treatment and a significant infection is allow to occur. In some of these instances root canal and antibiotic treatment  with amoxicillin (e.g.) is replaced by a root canal or extraction and a more complex (and expensive) antibiotic

Call our Denver dentists today and make an appointment

Please feel free to call our office and make an appointment as soon as possible. They can be reached at (303) 694-9740.Waiting late in the week (Friday) after it has been hurting all week in not a very good strategy. If pain hurts for hours or hurts when you tap on the tooth that “can” be an indication of a tooth needing some type of treatment.  Sometimes extracting a tooth  may end up being your only option.

Thanks to Matt and Scott of US Web Central for their help with our web sites and Blogs.  They can be reached by clicking on the following link Denver web design and SEO