ALTERATIONS IN TOOTH COLOR (Page 2 of 5)
Nonvital Teeth. (Figs.
14-1 and
14-2 )
A nonvital tooth can be discolored
yellow-brown to brown-gray from loss of pulpal fluids and the darkening of
dentin. Many times these teeth have concurrent signs of caries, restorations,
fractured incisal edges or vertical fracture lines. A large amalgam
restoration may contribute to the gray-blue hue seen.
Alternately, nonvital teeth can darken from the extravasation of
pulpal blood into the dentin as the result of trauma or the accumulation of
blood in the teeth at the time of nonvitality. This situation usually
produces a pink to purple tooth in which the neck of the crown is more
discolored than the incisal edge. A discolored nonvital, pink tooth has
been called the "pink tooth of Mummery". Lepromatous leprosy has also been
reported to cause rupture of pulpal blood vessels and pink teeth.
Previous Page - Intrinsic Staining
Next Page - Tetracycline Staining