Dead tooth but already have lumineer placed. Do you not need a root canal to get internal bleaching done?

Hi There, so sorry to hear about your tooth! Internal bleaching it a procedure that is done on a nonvital (dead) tooth. When it is done the whitening gel is placed into the pulp chamber space so it can whiten from the inside out. To complete this safely and effectively the tooth definitely should have already had a root canal!

Internal bleaching is done by opening an access hole through the back side of the tooth and extending the hole down to about the gum level (but still inside the tooth).  If you do not have a root canal on that tooth there would most likely be a nerve exposure that would cause you to require one.  In addition, when doing the internal bleaching, there needs to be a seal at both ends for it to be successful, this is only accomplished with the tooth having a root canal prior to the whitening procedure.  Also, something to keep in mind is that there is no guarantee that the underlying color changes to were the lumineer matches the surrounding teeth.  This is also not a permanent fix, you will need to have this redone periodically.  Another option to keep in mind for the future is to restore it with an all ceramic crown that could block out the underlying shade of the tooth altogether.

You need a root canal to get the dead stuff out of the tooth to start with.  It will keep getting darker and likely abcess on you.  Internal bleaching is done after that by leaving the access hole for the root canal open, you squirting a little home whitening gel inside that hole, and then putting on a regular whitening tray )  Don't bleach other teeth at this time.  The whitening tray is simply to hold the gel for a couple of hours or overnight.  Do not have the dentist do what is called a walking bleach.  The chemicals used in that have been shown to increase the incidence of resorption of the tooth.