Broken or Chipped Teeth | Chipped Tooth Treatment – Elite Dental Care Tracy

Broken or Chipped Teeth/ Chipped tooth treatment:
Straight teeth and a perfect bite improves our smile and self esteem. We must always be cautious about our oral health as it makes our living beautiful.
Broken or chipped tooth is observed very rarely, it does not cause any pain, unless the damage is very deep enough to expose the tissues of inner layer of tooth.
A famous author once said “Beauty lies in the smile of a person” and teeth is very important for a beautiful smile.
It is important to treat any kind of disorder in the tooth immediately.
Here are some insights on Broken/chipped tooth
Broken or Chipped teeth:
Broken or chipped tooth should be treated as soon as it is identified.
Though the enamel is very strong, after certain stage of breakage and damage, it cannot protect the inner layers of the tooth, If it is neglected or treatment is delayed, it may cause more infections and lead to extraction of tooth which is the last stage.

Broken or Chipped Teeth

Causes:
Broken or chipped teeth are caused due to

Poor Oral hygiene
Biting of very hard substances
A strong blow or punch on the face with a ball or a strong kick on the face.
Bruxism: Bruxism is grinding of teeth in the nights during sleep.

Types:
Chipped or Broken tooth are three types:
Small Chip: Chip is very small where no special treatments are needed, dentist will simply polish the chipped tooth.
Medium Chip: It involves minor damage to the enamel, we will treat it using a crown, or by filling the cracked or broken gaps in the tooth.
Large chip: If the damage is too deep then a root canal surgery is needed to remove the damaged nerve, additionally crown is placed at the top of the chipped or broken tooth.

First Aid:
Initially if we have a chipped or broken tooth before going to the doctor rinse and goggle with warm water.
If it is bleeding apply pressure slightly using a cotton gauge.
If the dentist is not available in the emergency situation, try to cover the effected area with dental cement or use OTC dental kits (contains dental wax) which is available in all the pharmacies now.
Apply clove oil on the affected area.
Some chipped/broken tooth need professional treatment, they do not get healed themselves or with home remedies.
Treatment for chipped/broken tooth:

If the tooth has only the surface lines and very tiny cracks, treatment is not required, however if there are cavities and if the X- ray diagnoses deep cracks on the tooth then treatments followed by the doctors are

Polishing:

If it is a small chip/crack we will just polish the jagged/broken edge. This is called cosmetic contouring.

Bonding:

We erode the tooth, swab on a conditioning liquid and apply composite resin in tooth color and reshape or reattach the broken tooth.

Root canal filling:

If it is a large chip/broken, we will recommend a root canal filling.
Root canal filling: It is a procedure where we remove the infected pulp, sanitize the tooth, use a rubber material called gutta-percha and do filling or cap it with a crown.

Surgery:

Molars have multiple roots, affected root will be cut off to save the other part of the tooth, which is called “Hemisection”.
In this case we need to follow both root canal and crown procedures, before the surgery we must make sure that the other roots do not have any cracks or broken ends.

Extraction:

Extraction is suggested if it is a split tooth, some dentists suggest extraction even if
the breakage of the tooth is too deep into the pulp of the tooth.
After extraction we doctors recommend implants in the place of missing tooth to save the health of surrounding teeth.
Conclusion:
It is important to maintain strong and healthy teeth to avoid breakage or any sort of disorders.
Always see your dentist, even in case of any small discomfort in the teeth do not ignore it.