bleaching

[cathy1265]

I just found out recently that my two front upper teeth are dead. My dentist thinks it was caused by trauma but one of the teeth began to discolor about 10 years ago and I don't remember any trauma. I had a root canal on the more discolored tooth because it was infected about a year ago. I have had to have the root canal redone on that tooth because it is infected again. The first endodontist bleached the tooth several times and thought it might be possible to do a root canal on the calcified tooth and bleach the calcified tooth to match the other tooth. My present endodontist says that bleaching the tooth may damage it and it probably will not get the tooth to the desired shade. He says the other tooth is also too calcified to do a root canal on. He says a better choice would be crowns or onlays. Do the teeth still need to be bleached to get a desired effect from the crowns and onlays? Also is it a better idea to try to keep my natural teeth?

[turkee23]

onlay and inlay are used as restorations and  are meant to replace cusps on teeth, the cusps are the high point on your teeth that you can feel with your tongue....

veneers and onlays are not the same thing....if you get veneers they are going to shave down your teeth a little and cement the veneers to them....

try bleaching and then ask about veneers.....

[Cycl3Chick]

Its always a better idea to keep your natural teeth.  If you can afford it, I would probably get several opinions and try to do the bleaching first.  If that doesnt help, THEN and only then would i get veneers (what he probably is calling onlays).