Black band on tooth

Black band on an extracted tooth?

A black band on an extracted tooth is most often seen from tetracycline staining. Typically we see it on a wisdom tooth of a young adult or late teen that took acne medication.

What causes the black staining on the extracted tooth?

The primary cause is tetracycline or similar antibiotic taken when the tooth was being formed in the jaw. Other possibilities could be exposure to high levels of lead, although the cases I have seen where they claim lead also had tetracycline so one must wonder which is causative.

See on some facebook thread. Others that people see look similar.

Acne medication turns teeth black

The most common time dentists will see this black banding is when we extract a wisdom tooth on a kid that took acne medication. Acne medication is often in the tetracycline family and if they take it at the time when the roots of a wisdom tooth are developing you will see a black line on the wisdom tooth. If they take it at a very young age or take tetracycline medication at a younger age then it can be on the crown of the tooth. I don’t think medical doctors give tetracycline to children anymore because they know it will cause teeth that we see to turn black.

This patient took tetracycline for acne at age 15. This is what his wisdom tooth looks like at 19.

Black staining on an extracted wisdom tooth?

This stain is from an intrinsic cause and is usually tetracycline medication. There is also extrinsic staining from primarily gram positive bacterial plaque. This extrinsic staining is more common on the primary dentition and is usually found in low caries children. The stain appears to be a ferric salt. You also see this under temporary and permanent crowns, especially if you use a ferric blood clotting agent.

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