How To Handle Broken And Fractured Teeth

Teeth are very strong but this does not mean they are unbreakable. Breaking, cracking and chipping can happen in various different ways:

• Biting on something that is too hard
• Injuries from falls
• Cavities affecting weakened teeth
• Having older fillings that no longer support a tooth’s remaining enamel

How can you handle situations when your teeth are damaged? You start by understanding what you are faced with.

Fractured Teeth

Treatment is not actually possible through home based methods. In this case you need to go to the dentist as soon as possible. The tooth can look completely fine and hurts just when you eat or when mouth temperature changes. When you have a tooth that always hurts, you want to go to your dentist as soon as possible.

Broken Teeth

This is another situation that requires a dentist visit. However, in many cases this is not possible as soon as we want to. Until you manage to visit the dentist, you can do the following:

• Use warm water to rinse your mouth.
• If bleeding exists, apply some pressure with gauze or a tea bag.
• Use pain relievers.
• Use temporary dental cement if the pain is too much.

How Dentists Will Help

When teeth are broken or fractured there are various procedures that are possible. That will include the following but others can be considered:

• Minor Tooth Crack – These just affect a tooth’s enamel. They will rarely need treatment and dentists usually just polish areas to remove rough spots.
• Cracked Tooth – Such a fracture will involve the entire tooth. Cracks are problematic because they tend to spread. Dentists can repair them with the use of filling material but crowns are often needed.
• Tooth Chips – Treatment is not needed for the minor chips. Dentists recommend the use of filling material for prevention purposes. When chips are really small, polishing is used.
• Serious Tooth Breaks – such a break will go really deep and expose tooth nerve. Sensitivity and pain are often associated. The tooth’s broken part tends to bleed. A root canal treatment will normally be needed in order to remove exposed nerve and crowns are often necessary to restore the normal function of the tooth. Without the crown you may not be able to properly chew.
• Split Tooth – A split means that the tooth vertically split into 2 parts. There are teeth that will have more roots. One of them may remain and will be covered with crowns. However, root canal treatment is usually necessary. Then, dentists remove the roots that cannot remain. Another crown will be added to cover root and sometimes a tooth replacement is needed.
• Breaks Caused By Tooth Decay – In this situation we have a cavity that weakened the tooth from the inside out. Dentists have to evaluate cavity and then recommend how to properly restore the tooth. When decay is too extensive, teeth need to be completely removed.

Never underestimate tooth problems, even if the crack is really small. You may end up having to deal with a really serious repair that would be needed in the future if you ignore the small problems.