Fix Cracked Teeth
Have you found yourself enjoying your meal and taking a nice bite of your food only to feel your tooth crack in half? While you may not have been biting down on a piece of hard candy, you heard your tooth crack under the pressure of your bite. There are a number of reasons why your tooth may crack, but there are many ways for the dentist to repair your tooth if you seek dental care quickly. You may not have had warning that your tooth was even close to having an issue, but there are steps to take after it happens to help keep your mouth healthy and avoid preventable tooth loss.
Reasons a Tooth Might Break
For people who grind their teeth while they sleep, they have been warned to use a mouth guard to avoid damage. Other people clench their jaws without even being aware of the action. And even other people enjoy eating and chewing hard food like candy, nuts and ice. These people are usually candidates who suffer from cracked teeth. The pressure between the teeth from these types of biting and contact between the teeth damage the hard tooth enamel. Once the enamel is compromised, the tooth is more and more susceptible to cracking.
The outside of the tooth is made from the hardest tissue in the human body, the enamel. The inside of the tooth has nerve tissue and blood vessels and without the protection of the enamel, a cracked tooth can be very painful once the inside of the tooth is exposed. For some people, they may not notice a large cracking sensation or noise while they’re eating, but they do notice pain when chewing. It can even be more noticeable when the food or drinks are especially hot or cold. For other people, they may not even know a tooth is cracked until their next dental appointment.
What to Do if a Tooth Cracks in Half
If you are one of the people who knows a tooth is cracked, be sure to reach out to the dentist for appointment right away. Any time the tooth enamel is damaged, bacteria can more easily cause tooth decay and infections. Any delay in seeking dental treatment for your cracked tooth can increase your chances for more serious dental problems which will need more serious and expensive dental treatments. If the crack exposes the tooth’s pulp, it is easy for an infection to settle into the inside of the tooth, gum, and even bone. You may not be able to get an appointment immediately after you cracked your tooth, so be sure to maintain your at home dental routine. Take care to not chew with the cracked tooth and even use a gentle approach when brushing the cracked tooth.
How to Repair a Cracked Tooth
Only the dentist will be able to determine the best treatment plan for your cracked tooth after reviewing the extent of the damage. In most cases, the dentist will try to save your tooth, but in some cases, the tooth is beyond repair and will need to be replaced. The dentist can use a dental filling to repair a small crack in the enamel. If only a small portion of your tooth cracked, then the dentist can save the rest of the tooth with a protective crown. If you cracked the tooth below the gumline, the dentist may need to perform surgery to remove the broken piece or a root canal to address the damaged pulp.
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