Beauty Bible Beauty Clinic

Welcome to our new weekly column on the YOU magazine website, www.you.co.uk  Below you will find the current question and our advice, with a list of where to source the products mentioned.  To look at past columns, click here. And for lots more solutions to your beauty dilemmas, visit Q&A, just click here.

January 3rd, 2010: Cosmetic Dentistry

Q My front tooth has a crack and is dead, so it is slightly yellower than my other teeth. As it is my front tooth, I don't want to do anything drastic like a cap, but I don't think whiteners work on dead teeth... Any solution?

A We asked leading London dentist Dr Hap Gill of SmileStudio in Richmond for his advice.  He started by explaining that ‘When a tooth is “dead”, what we are really saying is that it has no functioning blood supply nor nerve supply (known collectively as the “pulp”).  The crack this reader has sustained is a nice opening in the tooth that the bugs can dive into, causing infection.  Once the infection works its way to the pulp, the tooth usually “dies”.  The crack could also be evidence of an external trauma, which can ram a tooth suddenly into the jawbone, disconnecting the nerve/blood supply.’ 
 

‘The discoloration is caused when the blood stops circulating inside the tooth, and it then soaks up the blood.  The iron from the haemoglobin in the red blood cells causes the tooth to get darker, though this may take many years, even decades.  Because this type of stain starts from inside the tooth and works outwards it is indeed impossible to use DIY bleaching.  You need “internal bleaching” which must be performed by a dentist.’ 

‘First however the nerve/blood supply must be removed in a procedure called a root canal treatment.  Then a pledget of cotton wool soaked in hydrogen peroxide is placed deep inside the tooth.  This is replenished over several visits until the desired colour is reached.  If the colour still doesn’t look quite natural, a porcelain veneer is necessary.  But the lighter the tooth is before the veneer the better for the look of it. 

Now the question of cost.  It may be possible to get this on the NHS but the cosmetic result is not guaranteed.  If you opt for private treatment, expect to pay about £650 for root canal treatment, about £500 for the internal bleaching including the final filling, and to invest around £1000 in a veneer.  As Dr Gill says, ‘think of porcelain veneers as tiny sculptures, works of art!’  

Dr Hap Gill, SmileStudio, tel 0845 225 0040, 020 8948 1040, smilestudio.co.uk 

We . . .

Origins GinZing, £20 for 50 ml.  Having trouble waking up to the New Year?  This eye cream is fantastic for a morning rescue mission, helping to reduce the appearance of dark circles (with optical brighteners, while the cocktail of botanicals – caffeine, magnolia extract, green tea, apple, chestnut seed extract and ginseng – work to refresh and revive.  We enjoy the cool-as-a-cucumber sensation, too…

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