Tooth whitening is everywhere. Here in North Carolina, it’s about to get even more commonly available (that’s not necessarily a good thing but that’s another post). There’s another type of bleaching that is done internally when the tooth is discolored from the inside (as opposed to what you usually think of when you hear teeth bleaching). There are different reasons for a tooth getting discolored from the inside. Probably the common reason is there was trauma to the tooth and it bled internally. If a tooth does need internal bleaching, it will need to have a root canal treatment (most have already had one). Typically, we do these when someone has to have a tooth treated or retreated anyway and we do the bleaching at the same time. It will usually take a few visits to get the color to match the surrounding teeth.