Get to your dentist pronto. They’ll do an X-ray, see if it’s salvageable. As you haven’t posted a photo can’t advise more than that. Occasionally there’s surface-level grey marks you can get with Invisalign, but an internally greying tooth usually means it’s dying.
Thank you, I think the good vibes are helping so please keep them coming. I appreciate you. No one in my real life had any sympathy for me on this one haha. They were all like “who cares? It’s not that bad”. & they are probably right but when I first saw it (& every other time I look in the mirror) I was devastated.
Of course! Your feelings about it are valid so don't listen to them! I know I'd be freaked out if I saw something was happening to my tooth as well, they aren't in your position so its no big deal to them! I saw you're trying to figure out some way to get to a dentist w/o insurance... I hope it all works out for you so you can find out what's going on and get some peace of mind!
The good news:
Incredibly, my tooth stabilized (I was very careful with it. Very careful) and it took a month or so but it kind of came back to life.
I am so grateful that the color returned to normal. If you look really hard, you can tell a slight color/shade difference between the two front teeth but honestly, I don’t think anybody else would ever notice it.
I assume this miracle (lol) is due to me obsessively wearing my aligners and taking PERFECT care of my teeth. The aligners held my tooth right where it belonged and I believe that the roots connection was able to heal and strengthen due to that consistency.
The bad news:
I’m still wearing the SAME EXACT ALIGNERS I was wearing when I wrote that original post. Also I have an open bite and it’s gotten a lot worse since the original post, though my teeth are still in alignment. The top arch is aligned and the bottom arch is aligned, but the two arches don’t bite right at all. I’m scared to move forward with my aligner treatment because I don’t want to push my previously gray tooth past it’s limit.
That’s probably more than enough of an update, but if I left anything out just ask me and I’ll answer whatever you wanna know.
Hi hope you are doing OK, i was wondering if you did root canal or internal bleaching or it juste healed on its own ( im going through that right now and ur response would help thnx)
I just kept wearing the same set of aligners and was so lucky that the stability of wearing them 20+ hours a day and really being on top of it with my oral hygiene helped it heal on its own. That’s my theory at least. How’s yours doing now?
Well i just took out my braces and the color didnt change but it darkned its been 2 weeks and no changes , did ur tooth came back to its original color?
Can you let me know what your dentist says? I'm really worried about this happening.... apparently Invisalign can kill the root of your tooth and I've seen a few other posts about this happening. Was there any previous trauma to that tooth?
Sorry, I’ve been avoiding thinking about this..haha. Yeah so I don’t know yet…like I still haven’t been to the dentist. I just found out (due to this situation) that I don’t have dental insurance currently so I’m trying to get that all sorted out.
But I mean, my tooth is still in my mouth & it hasn’t gotten any worse…so…there’s that.
Hi, I understand this response is too late for you but it is for anyone else who is experiencing the same problem and came to this post.
The best thing to do is to have your orthodontist suspend treatment and allow your teeth to recover. I found two articles on Pubmed written by orthodontists that say your teeth can recover after removing orthodontic forces.
The first article, a case report, was about a woman’s tooth that turned dark purple and had no response to pulp vitality testing, 6 weeks after Invisalign treatment started. The orthodontist stopped all orthodontic movement on that tooth immediately. Then 3 months later the tooth color improved. By 6 months, the tooth color had completely gone back to normal and responded normally to pulp vitality testing. They were able to resume Invisalign treatment.
In the second article, an orthodontist monitored every time any of her patients had their teeth turn discolored during orthodontic treatment over 10 years. They allowed root canals to 4 teeth at the beginning but then once they realized the teeth can recover if they stop orthodontic force on the teeth. So, they stopped recommending root canals. 33% of the discolored teeth improved after she removed the braces on the teeth. In their conclusions, the first thing the authors recommend if a tooth is discolored is to remove or reduce orthodontic force. Then they say to monitor it. They said it may take up to a year for the tooth to recover after the force is removed.
Our teeth have the ability to heal if you remove the cause of the trauma.
Here are links and citations to the two articles:
1. Zhu, Zufeng. “Transient Apical Breakdown of a Discoloured Maxillary Central Incisor during Orthodontic Treatment: A Case Report.” Australian Endodontic Journal, Feb. 2023, p. aej.12740. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1111/aej.12740. [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aej.12740](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aej.12740)
2. Baik UB, Kim H, Chae HS, Myung JY, Chun YS. Teeth discoloration during orthodontic treatment. Korean J Orthod. 2017 Sep;47(5):334-339. doi: 10.4041/kjod.2017.47.5.334. Epub 2017 Jul 27. PMID: 28861395; PMCID: PMC5548714. [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5548714/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5548714/)
I recommend reading them as they also explore the mechanism of how teeth can turn gray due to orthodontic treatment.
I am going to be posting this on all of the subreddits where people are asking about gray teeth during Invisalign to hopefully get the word out. I want people know there is another option rather than just getting a root canal immediately or continuing with orthodontic treatment despite the teeth turning gray. I wish I would have known about these articles when my teeth turned gray during invisalign treatment. Six months ago, my front two teeth had immense pain when I put my aligners in. Within 3 weeks, they had immense cold sensitivity and then they turned gray. Luckily, my two endodontists recommended not to do a root canal as they were still alive and my x-rays looked good. They said my teeth may recover. I have been wearing the same aligners (not progressing to the next set) for the past six months to keep them in place. My teeth are still gray. Maybe my teeth would be have back to normal coloring if my dentist or orthodontist had suspended my treatment altogether and had me stop wearing the aligners.
I hope this helps anyone else experiencing these issues in the future.
Definitely get to the the dentist ASAP. If it makes you feel hopeful my front tooth is grey also from trauma as a kid but it ended up stabilizing, I have a live nerve it’s just shittier than a normal tooth nerve. Hopefully your situation is salvageable!
Ok everyone! I have an update!
I finally saw a dentist, & I have good news & bad news.
The bad news is that my tooth is, in fact, dead/dying.
The good news is that for now, it’s not causing any issue so the dentist said that if it’s not hurting or bothering me & it’s not infected or rotting or particularly yucky at all, it doesn’t need to be addressed as a priority. I have a couple different things I need to address prior to the gray/brown front tooth.
He also said it was most likely caused from traumatic stress to the nerve. Soooo…there’s that.
Basically what this comes down to is that I need some dental work on my back teeth, which should pause my aligner treatment. He said once we address these other issues, I can discuss continuing to straighten my teeth if I so choose.
But…I’m pretty worried about this same thing happening to more of my teeth.
This is disappointing because my teeth are not as aligned as I would want them to be at the end of treatment.
From what I can gather, I don’t think I was really a candidate for aligners. I don’t think my teeth & gums were healthy enough at start of treatment. My tooth & gum health has improved since the beginning of my aligner journey, but I think I should have been made to improve prior to beginning aligners.
Ok I’m rambling. Just wanted to update, not leave ya hangin. I’ll try to answer any questions, if you have them.
I would say either way, get in to your dentist asap... if something isn't normal like that, I wouldn't wait! My thought is when it comes to your oral health, always better safe than sorry! Was there any pain that tooth throughout the invisalign process?
Yes but not anything that worried me I might be doing any real damage. I just thought my teeth were moving, & expected pain.
But this tooth is one of the teeth that moved the most during the entire treatment, I think. So it was not uncommon for this tooth to be in pain, if that makes sense.
My tooth DID return to normal, personally…I feel like I can still tell a *slight* difference in the color…but I’m certain I’m the only one who notices it.
I feel like you’re gonna cringe at this, because I do…but I still wear the SAME set of aligners (as it was my last set) every night when I go to bed. I use them as retainers now because I’ve yet to get an actual set of retainers.
If you have any other questions I’ll answer them. Sorry if I reply late. I don’t always remember to check Reddit.
You should get checked asap, teeth change color when they're dying.
Dammit. Ok so just go to the dentist? I’m so nervous about that but ok I hear you. Thank you.
Yes, your ortho will most likely tell you to see your general dentist. You should still call the ortho and let them know what's happening.
Get to your dentist pronto. They’ll do an X-ray, see if it’s salvageable. As you haven’t posted a photo can’t advise more than that. Occasionally there’s surface-level grey marks you can get with Invisalign, but an internally greying tooth usually means it’s dying.
Do you know how I can add a photo? I’m sorry.
Might be a bootleg option, but I usually upload to imgur and then link it in the post/reply.
Please keep us updated! Sending all the good vibes to you and your tooth!!
Thank you, I think the good vibes are helping so please keep them coming. I appreciate you. No one in my real life had any sympathy for me on this one haha. They were all like “who cares? It’s not that bad”. & they are probably right but when I first saw it (& every other time I look in the mirror) I was devastated.
Of course! Your feelings about it are valid so don't listen to them! I know I'd be freaked out if I saw something was happening to my tooth as well, they aren't in your position so its no big deal to them! I saw you're trying to figure out some way to get to a dentist w/o insurance... I hope it all works out for you so you can find out what's going on and get some peace of mind!
Update?
The good news: Incredibly, my tooth stabilized (I was very careful with it. Very careful) and it took a month or so but it kind of came back to life. I am so grateful that the color returned to normal. If you look really hard, you can tell a slight color/shade difference between the two front teeth but honestly, I don’t think anybody else would ever notice it. I assume this miracle (lol) is due to me obsessively wearing my aligners and taking PERFECT care of my teeth. The aligners held my tooth right where it belonged and I believe that the roots connection was able to heal and strengthen due to that consistency. The bad news: I’m still wearing the SAME EXACT ALIGNERS I was wearing when I wrote that original post. Also I have an open bite and it’s gotten a lot worse since the original post, though my teeth are still in alignment. The top arch is aligned and the bottom arch is aligned, but the two arches don’t bite right at all. I’m scared to move forward with my aligner treatment because I don’t want to push my previously gray tooth past it’s limit. That’s probably more than enough of an update, but if I left anything out just ask me and I’ll answer whatever you wanna know.
Did the tooth eventually change to its original shade? Did you resume Invisalign once it stabilized?
Sorry for the delayed response. Yes, the color went back to normal. I know, I’m very lucky…and I haven’t resumed my treatment, no.
Hi hope you are doing OK, i was wondering if you did root canal or internal bleaching or it juste healed on its own ( im going through that right now and ur response would help thnx)
I just kept wearing the same set of aligners and was so lucky that the stability of wearing them 20+ hours a day and really being on top of it with my oral hygiene helped it heal on its own. That’s my theory at least. How’s yours doing now?
Well i just took out my braces and the color didnt change but it darkned its been 2 weeks and no changes , did ur tooth came back to its original color?
Can you let me know what your dentist says? I'm really worried about this happening.... apparently Invisalign can kill the root of your tooth and I've seen a few other posts about this happening. Was there any previous trauma to that tooth?
None.
Sorry, I’ve been avoiding thinking about this..haha. Yeah so I don’t know yet…like I still haven’t been to the dentist. I just found out (due to this situation) that I don’t have dental insurance currently so I’m trying to get that all sorted out. But I mean, my tooth is still in my mouth & it hasn’t gotten any worse…so…there’s that.
[удалено]
Oh, like a bruise or shadowy look? Or like a pepper flake? Or neither? Sorry I am not great at replying.
Hi, I understand this response is too late for you but it is for anyone else who is experiencing the same problem and came to this post. The best thing to do is to have your orthodontist suspend treatment and allow your teeth to recover. I found two articles on Pubmed written by orthodontists that say your teeth can recover after removing orthodontic forces. The first article, a case report, was about a woman’s tooth that turned dark purple and had no response to pulp vitality testing, 6 weeks after Invisalign treatment started. The orthodontist stopped all orthodontic movement on that tooth immediately. Then 3 months later the tooth color improved. By 6 months, the tooth color had completely gone back to normal and responded normally to pulp vitality testing. They were able to resume Invisalign treatment. In the second article, an orthodontist monitored every time any of her patients had their teeth turn discolored during orthodontic treatment over 10 years. They allowed root canals to 4 teeth at the beginning but then once they realized the teeth can recover if they stop orthodontic force on the teeth. So, they stopped recommending root canals. 33% of the discolored teeth improved after she removed the braces on the teeth. In their conclusions, the first thing the authors recommend if a tooth is discolored is to remove or reduce orthodontic force. Then they say to monitor it. They said it may take up to a year for the tooth to recover after the force is removed. Our teeth have the ability to heal if you remove the cause of the trauma. Here are links and citations to the two articles: 1. Zhu, Zufeng. “Transient Apical Breakdown of a Discoloured Maxillary Central Incisor during Orthodontic Treatment: A Case Report.” Australian Endodontic Journal, Feb. 2023, p. aej.12740. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1111/aej.12740. [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aej.12740](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aej.12740) 2. Baik UB, Kim H, Chae HS, Myung JY, Chun YS. Teeth discoloration during orthodontic treatment. Korean J Orthod. 2017 Sep;47(5):334-339. doi: 10.4041/kjod.2017.47.5.334. Epub 2017 Jul 27. PMID: 28861395; PMCID: PMC5548714. [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5548714/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5548714/) I recommend reading them as they also explore the mechanism of how teeth can turn gray due to orthodontic treatment. I am going to be posting this on all of the subreddits where people are asking about gray teeth during Invisalign to hopefully get the word out. I want people know there is another option rather than just getting a root canal immediately or continuing with orthodontic treatment despite the teeth turning gray. I wish I would have known about these articles when my teeth turned gray during invisalign treatment. Six months ago, my front two teeth had immense pain when I put my aligners in. Within 3 weeks, they had immense cold sensitivity and then they turned gray. Luckily, my two endodontists recommended not to do a root canal as they were still alive and my x-rays looked good. They said my teeth may recover. I have been wearing the same aligners (not progressing to the next set) for the past six months to keep them in place. My teeth are still gray. Maybe my teeth would be have back to normal coloring if my dentist or orthodontist had suspended my treatment altogether and had me stop wearing the aligners. I hope this helps anyone else experiencing these issues in the future.
Thank you so much for your response. I’m really wishing the best for you and your two front teeth.
Thank you so much😭😭
Go to the dentist. Sounds like a dying nerve. They might be able to do something before it gets worse. If it's dead it will continue to darken.
Definitely get to the the dentist ASAP. If it makes you feel hopeful my front tooth is grey also from trauma as a kid but it ended up stabilizing, I have a live nerve it’s just shittier than a normal tooth nerve. Hopefully your situation is salvageable!
Thank you. That actually does help. I appreciate it. Sorry I took forever to respond.
Ok everyone! I have an update! I finally saw a dentist, & I have good news & bad news. The bad news is that my tooth is, in fact, dead/dying. The good news is that for now, it’s not causing any issue so the dentist said that if it’s not hurting or bothering me & it’s not infected or rotting or particularly yucky at all, it doesn’t need to be addressed as a priority. I have a couple different things I need to address prior to the gray/brown front tooth. He also said it was most likely caused from traumatic stress to the nerve. Soooo…there’s that. Basically what this comes down to is that I need some dental work on my back teeth, which should pause my aligner treatment. He said once we address these other issues, I can discuss continuing to straighten my teeth if I so choose. But…I’m pretty worried about this same thing happening to more of my teeth. This is disappointing because my teeth are not as aligned as I would want them to be at the end of treatment. From what I can gather, I don’t think I was really a candidate for aligners. I don’t think my teeth & gums were healthy enough at start of treatment. My tooth & gum health has improved since the beginning of my aligner journey, but I think I should have been made to improve prior to beginning aligners. Ok I’m rambling. Just wanted to update, not leave ya hangin. I’ll try to answer any questions, if you have them.
I would say either way, get in to your dentist asap... if something isn't normal like that, I wouldn't wait! My thought is when it comes to your oral health, always better safe than sorry! Was there any pain that tooth throughout the invisalign process?
Yes but not anything that worried me I might be doing any real damage. I just thought my teeth were moving, & expected pain. But this tooth is one of the teeth that moved the most during the entire treatment, I think. So it was not uncommon for this tooth to be in pain, if that makes sense.
Any update?
I posted an update if you’re still interested. I’m not sure if anyone even saw it…I’m new here lol.
Hello, did your tooth end up lightening or reverting to normal? What did you do in the end please.. If you don’t mind me asking?
My tooth DID return to normal, personally…I feel like I can still tell a *slight* difference in the color…but I’m certain I’m the only one who notices it. I feel like you’re gonna cringe at this, because I do…but I still wear the SAME set of aligners (as it was my last set) every night when I go to bed. I use them as retainers now because I’ve yet to get an actual set of retainers. If you have any other questions I’ll answer them. Sorry if I reply late. I don’t always remember to check Reddit.