If you have just noticed a broken or cracked tooth, don't panic. There are a variety of treatments that your dentist can perform for broken tooth repair. The procedure will depend on what type of break you have, as there are many ways to break or crack a tooth. Here are five different types of treatments available for broken teeth.
Polishing the Surface of the Tooth
For minor cracks, your dentist should be able to just polish the surface of your tooth where you have the small cracks. This is only available if the cracks don't penetrate past the enamel. Since it doesn't do much damage to your tooth when it is on the surface of the tooth, all you are doing is improving the appearance of the tooth. This is possible with some minor polishing to smooth it out.
Applying Filling Material
Another type of break that isn't serious is a chip, which may or may not need treatment. If you don't like the look of the chip, you can use to get it treated. The best way to do this is usually by adding filling material over the chipped area and smoothing it out. This fills in the chipped area of the tooth and also prevents it from causing a more extensive break of the tooth. For smaller chips, polishing should be all you need.
Performing a Root Canal
When your tooth breaks and it exposes the nerves of your teeth, you will need a root canal. Serious tooth breaks often result in exposing the nerves, which can be extremely painful. Make sure you get in to the dentist right away as it will be painful and often very sensitive. The root canal will remove the exposed nerves. Once it is performed, you will get a crown. If your tooth is split vertically, you may also get a root canal prior to putting a crown on the tooth.
Protecting It with a Crown
There are also some tooth breaks that require a crown to be put on your tooth without a root canal treatment first. For example, if you have broken the cusps of your teeth, which are the pointed parts of the teeth, you may need to restore the shape of your tooth with a crown. A cracked tooth that involves the entire tooth down to the nerve will also need a crown in order to protect the tooth and keep it from worsening.
Removing the Tooth
Extracting the tooth is unfortunately needed in some cases. If there is a major vertical break of the tooth that starts at the root of the tooth, you will most likely need to have the tooth removed. It is hard to repair this type of severe break. Another situation where you may need to remove the tooth is if it is a break caused by severe decay that has advanced beyond simple fillings or other dental procedures to repair the decay.
Share22 May 2015
When the bottled water craze began, I jumped on the bandwagon with everyone else who was drinking water from bottles instead of from the tap. I wasn't sure why bottled water was healthier, but I liked the taste. When I went for my next dental check-up, I had my first cavity in a while, so I had it filled and didn't think much of it. Well, I had two more during my next check-up after that, and I began trying to think of why my teeth were suddenly going bad. The only change in my habits was the switch to bottled water, so I made the switch back to tap water and my teeth began to improve. I created this blog to encourage others who have begun getting cavities suddenly to look into their changes in habits. They may find they made a change similar to mine.