If someone experiences a chipped or broken tooth after a hard bite or already carious tooth breaks down during chewing it should not be taken casually one should walk in a dental clinic at their earliest
Enamel (top most layer of tooth) is the mineralized structure which is hard covering but its strength has a limit which is compromised by falling, blow to face, bottle opening or having cavities that weakens tooth
SYMPTOMS OF CHIPPED TOOTH
- Roughness over chipped tooth
- Tongue irritation and ulcers
- Pain on biting
- Cheek bite due to broken cusp tip of molars
There are a lot of things a dentist can do to repair broken tooth depending upon the level of damage
If there is a minor chip dentist just rounding off the tooth by a procedure called enameloplasty which smoothens the surfaces
If a small piece of enamel is chipped off as in case of incisor (biting teeth) an incisal edge or cusp tips of molars (chewing teeth) the dentist or the restorative specialist will repair it with a filling or a buildup that will be a tooth colored filling material called “composite” which bonds with the tooth chemically and mechanically and the repair is done easily and it maintains aesthetics of the patient as well
If large piece of tooth is broken and it was already carious (decayed) then the dentist will go for another option of capping the tooth by actually root treat the tooth by placing inert material in the root canals of tooth and prepare it to place a crown on top to conserve the space and entity of tooth.
Usually, two types of the crown can be placed
- PORCELAIN FUSED TO METAL CROWN
- CERAMIC CROWNS (mostly preferred for aesthetics)
If the tooth is not there to prepare it for a crown a post can be placed right after the root canal treatment to build a foundation for a crown to be placed on top of it they are referred to as post retained crowns
If chipped off tooth structure decreases the bulk of tooth then a dentist or cosmetic specialist may consider veneers where the tooth colored filling material is placed on top of tooth as thin layer. It is a painless procedure and the color of the teeth is not compromised at all by choosing the correct shade of composite
At Dental Aesthetics patients are given full consultation regarding chipped tooth and evaluation is done on the basis of clinical examination and X-rays. The signs and symptoms are kept in mind and a treatment plan is made depending upon the intensity of damage to the tooth whether it is superficial or deep and what would be best treatment in that situation
Don’t avoid it in any way because a minor chip ignored today can cause trouble in future and it weakens rest of the enamel and give entry pathway to bacteria till reaches pulp of the tooth
If you got a chipped tooth walk in to our clinic at your earliest to save the rest of the tooth and we promise to deliver the best service and care your half broken tooth requires.
