It can take a lot of force to break a healthy tooth. Often broken teeth are caused by sports, a car accident, or perhaps a fall. Regardless of the reason, it is important to act fast if you want to save the tooth. If the tooth broke when you bit down on something hard, there may be an underlying problem. Still, you want to act right away to protect the area around the tooth. A broken tooth must be fixed.
What Defines Your Broken Tooth?
Let’s look at how deep the problem goes and what needs to be done about it.
Missing Enamel
This may just be a chip. The enamel has been knocked off. That’s the outer layer, and while it is important, there will be less pain because the break hasn’t reached the nerves or blood vessels. You still need to have a dentist fix the tooth to prevent further damage. Don’t wait. Call Sky Dental for fast service.
Exposed Dentin or Pulp
If you are in pain, there’s a good chance that there is exposed dentin or pulp. This is the same pain that many people experience in a tooth that needs a filling or crown. A forceful impact has knocked through the natural tooth protections and exposed the nerves and/or blood vessels. If you are in pain, it is vital to call the dentist quickly.
Missing Tooth
Your mouth is bleeding. You’ve got the tooth. This was a sports injury. That’s a recipe for seeing the dentist as soon as possible to save the tooth.
On the other hand, if the tooth was unhealthy, and there wasn’t an accident, you still need to see a dentist quickly if your tooth broke unexpectedly. It may not be possible to save the tooth in this instance, but it is always worth a try. Besides, you need to find out what happened to cause it so you don’t have more teeth breaking.
Long-Term Effects
If you ignore a broken tooth, bacteria will infiltrate your mouth. This causes more pain as the bacteria attacks the exposed dentin or pulp. It may become sensitive to hot food, cold food and/or temperature changes. The enamel will start to discolor. These are the reasons that you don’t want to wait to deal with a broken tooth.
How to Save Broken Teeth
If you or your child is injured in an accident, there’s a good chance of saving the tooth. You should place the piece or pieces into a dry container. The patient should rinse their mouth with warm water. Then a cold compress can be applied to the area to reduce swelling and bleeding. Chewing gum or dental wax can be used to temporarily cover any sharp areas.
How Fast Do You Need the Dentist
Obviously if you are in pain, you will need dental help as soon as possible. However, there are other signs that this is an emergency. You want to look and see if you see yellow at the broken tooth site. This indicates exposed dentin. Red or bleeding areas suggest exposed pulp.
If your teeth won’t close, this can be due to a broken jaw. This may require the emergency room and/or an oral surgeon before a dentist can address the broken teeth.
How to Fix Broken Teeth
What will your dentist do for a broken tooth?
The repair will depend on how it happened and how deep the injury goes. If it is strictly an injury to the outer tooth, a repair may involve fixing the chip with dental bonding material. The dentist may need to do a root canal to add filling to replace the damaged pulp. If the tooth isn’t infected, the dentist may recommend a crown to take care of the damage.
If the problem wasn’t an injury, the dentist will assess if this is a lost cavity filling or damaged crown or tooth broken by disease. Each type of problem may be repaired differently.
In extreme cases, the tooth may need to be pulled. In that case, your Sky Dental professional will recommend a dental implant to replace the lost tooth or teeth.
Contact Us for an Appointment
If you have broken a tooth, the sooner you get it repaired, the more likely you will keep the tooth. Call for your Sky Dental office for an appointment.