Dr. Noah's Dentistry Blog

Questions About Dentistry Answered

Archives for August 2019

Splotchy Teeth After Braces

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My daughter had braces done. They did straighten her teeth but now several of the teeth are splotchy from being two different colors. She does have thin enamel and I’m wondering if the orthodontist took this into consideration before giving her braces. Are they permanently damaged? Will insurance help me fix them? Would teeth whitening help?

Amelia

Dear Amelia,

Smiling young woman with braces

White spots are a sign of decalcification. This means your daughter wasn’t brushing quite enough where she needed to during her orthodontic treatment. Braces catch food which will sit there and start the decay process until it is cleaned off. It’s very important to brush your braces right after every time you eat. Snacking should be severely limited, and it would be smart to keep a toothbrush with you at all times in order to brush after each meal.

Your daughter was particularly susceptible because of her thin enamel. Your daughter’s spots will turn into decay if they’re not dealt with.

Dealing with White Spots After Braces

One thing you could try is Tooth Mousse. This sometimes helps re-mineralize teeth. However, it usually has better success when the cause is from something else. Either way, it’s worth a try.

Unfortunately, teeth whitening won’t work. This will whiten your teeth evenly which will just make the splotchy color more obvious.

Usually, the best solution is for a skilled cosmetic dentist to grind down the soft enamel down to solid tooth structure and then to do dental bonding over it to restore the tooth. This isn’t an easy procedure, so make sure the dentist who does it has the skills necessary.

This blog is brought to you by Tulsa Dentist Dr. Ryan Noah.

Sinus Infection after Extraction

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I had a dental emergency a couple of weeks ago and the tooth is beyond repair. The dentist did an extraction. In the process my sinus was perforated. I’ve done some research and this seems to be something that can happen without it being the dentist’s fault. He told me about it after the extraction, cleaned the area, closed it up and then gave me a prescription for antibiotics. I was feeling better and had finished my antibiotics. Today there is drainage and pressure in my sinuses. Could I have developed an infection at the extraction site?

Miranda

Dear Miranda,

blonde woman holding the side of her jaw in need of an emergency dentist

I’m glad you know that a sinus perforation doesn’t necessarily mean your dentist made a mistake. Some roots of teeth are so close to your sinus cavities the only thing separating them is a thin membrane, which will be perforated during an extraction when they’re that close.

It sounds like your dentist followed correct protocol when that happened as well. You’ve got a responsible caregiver and that is something to be grateful for. I can think of three possibilities going on here.

The first is that you just needed to be on your prescribed antibiotic a little longer than you were. Some infections need a little extra oomph to help your body fight it. This may be the case with yours.

A second possibility is you need to be on a different antibiotic. You didn’t mention which antibiotic your dentist prescribed. A good one for this type of situation is clindamycin.

A third possibility is there is some bone in the sinus cavity. This will blow up into an infection and can cause another dental emergency, plus a host of other problems.

I want you to call your dentist and schedule an appointment to be seen again. He’ll likely put you on more of the antibiotic or a different one. He may do an x-ray to see if there is some bone trapped there. If he doesn’t don’t panic. Try the antibiotics. If they don’t work, then it will be time to see an ENT and have this investigated further.

You are doing a good job staying on top of this. I don’t know if you and your dentist have started talking about what you will replace the extracted tooth with, but once you have this infection settled, I’d like you to discuss getting a dental implant with him.

This blog is brought to you by Tulsa Dentist Dr. Ryan Noah.