Your tooth can chip or crack for a lot of reasons. It could result from an accident, hard food, lifestyle habit, bruxism, and poor hygiene. But a cracked or a chipped tooth must be not ignored because they can become serious and cause more complications.
Do You Have a Cracked or Chipped Tooth?
A chipped tooth may not cause any tooth pain. But your experience can be different if the chip is big enough to expose the nerves in your tooth’s inner layer. Whether a chipped tooth causes pain or not, it must be examined by a Sterling Heights cosmetic dentist, so they can recommend an appropriate treatment. Your dentist may determine that you need a dental crown or onlay to restore your tooth’s shape and prevent further damage.
Meanwhile, a cracked tooth might impact the enamel or the root. When your tooth cracks, you might feel pain when you chew or if there is a temperature change in your mouth when you consume hot or cold stuff. However, you should get a cracked tooth evaluated by a dentist, no matter how simple you may think it is.
Treatments for Chipped and Cracked Tooth
For very small tooth chips, your dentist may just smooth and polish the tooth. If the chip slightly damaged the enamel, your dentist may pout a filling, cap, or crown over the tooth to restore its normal look and function. Also, this is meant to protect the tooth’s inner layer from infection and irritation.
A bigger chip can expose the tooth nerve. For this chip, you may need a root canal to get rid of the damaged nerve, along with a crown to replace your chipped tooth.
Treatments for a Cracked Tooth
A simple crack in your tooth enamel may not require treatment; however, you must still visit a dentist for an assessment. Your dentist may polish the tooth to improve its look. If the crack is serious, the resulting fracture could go beyond the tooth’s chewing surface down into the root of the tooth. If the crack goes through the enamel’s outer layers and to the dentin, exposing the tooth pulp, you could notice your tooth loosing and your gums bleeding.
Sometimes, a cracked tooth can break vertically. This can happen in the molars when you had fillings for a lot of years. For a badly damaged crown and roots, you may need a tooth extraction and replacement such as an implant or a bridge.
