Black Teeth...?

[DMVDMD]

Hi, I am entering my first year of Dental School at Nova and I was told to collect some teeth for dental anatomy class. After collecting several teeth, I put them in a 1:10 solution of bleach and water (as recomended), and some of the teeth turned black!

Any ideas why this happend?
Can the black color be removed?
Are the teeth no longer usable for my class?

I am more curious than anything..

Thanks

 

[Vicviper]

I had this happen to me, and freaked out about it. What probably happened is that you didn't put enough bleach in the solution, and you started to get bacteria growing over everything. Oh, and be sure to be in a well ventilated area when you open the jar, it's going to smell HORRIBLE.

If you put the teeth in maybe a 2:10 (yes, I know, 1:5 🙂 ) Bleach solution, the black should be gone in a day or two, I had this on almost ALL of my teeth, and it came right off after sitting in the solution. For stubborn ones that won't go away after the bleach, get a cheap tooth brush you won't use any more, and some gloves maybe, and clean them off. One note, don't leave them in the double concentration bleach for more than a day or two.

Hope that helps!

 

[Blue Panther]

How many teeth do we need? Like one big jar full?

 

[Vicviper]

As many as you can get! Many of the teeth you get you won't be able to use, so you've just go to get as many as you can to find a number of acceptable ones.