Can A Cracked Tooth Be Saved?
When it comes to dental injury, a cracked tooth is a situation where a crack has formed in the tooth due to trauma or friction in that area. The most common ways people crack their teeth include grinding their teeth, sports injuries, biting down on something hard, or any hard impact to the area. Depending on the seriousness of the crack, it can also cause instant sensitivity and pain in that tooth. For kids, cracking their baby teeth is one thing, as a new tooth can grow back. For adults, this is a more common experience, with several treatment options since this happens on adult teeth.
How does a dentist find a crack?
When getting a dental checkup, the dentist uses a few techniques to see the state of the patient’s teeth. One is a physical checkup of the patient’s mouth with special tools to inspect the surfaces of the teeth with the naked eye. However, there are some cracks that are harder for the dentist to see, even with an X-ray. Therefore, a 3D scan of the skull. This method gives the specialist a more in-depth look into the mouth. With this, the dentist can see hairline cracks, impacted areas that can crack later, and even cracks that trail deep into the root of the tooth.
Can a cracked tooth be salvaged?
Teeth are unable to heal themselves as our bones do, so treatment for cracked teeth needs to be done as soon as possible to prevent the tooth from cracking further. In order for treatment to start, the specialist needs to determine how deep the crack is and if it has actually cracked enough to expose the nerve. Based on those possibilities, treatments can include:
- Bonding: This treatment is when a colored resin (usually matching the shade of the tooth) seals the crack to prevent further damage and restores the tooth shape.
- Contouring or smoothing: This is usually done if the crack is small enough for the surface to just be smoothed and polished.
- Veneers: If the tooth is still healthy, the specialist will bond a porcelain veneer to the front of the tooth surface to help strengthen it.
- Crowns: If the crack is too big for the previous options, then the tooth gets covered with a crown to help hold it together.
- Root canal: Once the nerve is officially affected by the severity of the crack, then a root canal is performed as a last chance at saving the tooth,
If the tooth is too severely damaged, then the specialist may have to resort to removing the tooth altogether for the sake of the health and wellbeing of the patient.
It is important to address and quickly get the impacted tooth treated before more damage occurs. If left untreated, the crack can worsen, causing the tooth to easily start to fall apart and let bacteria into the exposed nerve, causing infection and pain to the patient, which could lead to further medical issues that become severe and possibly life-threatening.
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