Evaluation of patient satisfaction after non-vital bleaching in traumatized discolored intact anterior teeth

This study evaluated patient satisfaction and clinical effectiveness of intracoronal bleach in traumatized anterior discolored intact teeth. Assessment of awareness and knowledge of the patient regarding treatment modalities for such cases was also performed.

Forty-one patients were included in the study. Walking bleach was performed using sodium perborate (tetrahydrate) after root canal treatment and proper cervical seal. Patient was recalled after 1 week for evaluation. The bleaching procedure was repeated again till the patient agreed for it. On each recall visit, shade evaluation was performed using the Vita Classic shade guide. On completion of treatment, the patients were questioned as to their satisfaction level. Statistical analysis was carried out using anova.

87.8% of the subjects were highly satisfied with the results obtained; 7.32% were satisfied, while 4.9% were not satisfied. Average number of appointments needed for highly satisfied group was 2.75, and average shade change obtained was 11.97. Significantly more number of appointments were needed for the older patients (P < 0.01) or patients with older trauma (P < 0.05)/discoloration (P < 0.05). Severity of discoloration did not affect the number of appointments (P > 0.05). Most of the participants (97.6%) were not aware of bleaching procedure. The aspect of this treatment, which satisfied them the most, was improvement of the tooth coloration followed by conservation of tooth structure while the most perplexing thing was the unpredictability of final shade achieved and lack of color stability.

High level of patient satisfaction after non-vital tooth bleach treatment strongly supports this treatment modality to be a conservative treatment alternative for traumatized discolored anterior tooth.