Intracoronal bleaching of nonvital teeth in children and adolescents: Interim results

This study was undertaken to investigate the outcomes in 20 children and adolescents who had undergone an intracoronal nonvital bleaching technique. Twenty-one discolored central incisor teeth were treated by the walking bleaching method and reviewed at intervals for 18 months following completion of bleaching. All teeth bleached lightened to varying degrees, and 62% of patients expressed satisfaction with the result. When a porcelain shade guide was used as a reference before bleaching, the percentage of teeth deemed off the shade guide, gray or reddish gray, was 97%. Immediately postbleaching, the percentage had been reduced to 57%, and relatively more teeth were at the lighter end of the scale for each color band. At 18 months, three teeth (17%) had been veneered, and 33% of the remainder were found to be off the shade guide, gray or red-gray. Radiographically, 81% of teeth were classified as healthy at 18 months, with no evidence of cervical or progressive apical resorption.