01 Jul Chipped tooth? Here’s What To Do Next

Enamel is the strongest substance in the human body, but it has its limits of endurance. Carelessness, force, or excessive wear and tear can cause cracks in teeth, resulting in a chipped surface. When a tooth is cracked, it produces more than mere pain. The exposure of the tooth’s inner nerve may lead to infection, root damage, and other oral problems. In this article, we explain the symptoms and treatment of cracked teeth, as well as simple ways to prevent their occurrence.

How do I diagnose a chipped tooth?

While some chips are obvious, others hide from view. Of course, the easiest way to diagnose a cracked tooth is to observe it, yet there are some ways to determine whether an invisible crack exists.

Teeth containing cracks will feel sensitive to extreme temperatures because the inner parts of the tooth are exposed when stripped of their protective enamel. Roughness and jagged edges are common, so if one tooth’s texture differs from the adjacent teeth. You may also feel irritation or pain in your tongue from contact with the uneven surface of a chipped tooth. Similarly, irritation can also occur locally in the gums, and irritation in only one place can indicate that the base of the tooth is chipped.

Pressure also causes sensitivity, so if you experience pain when chewing or clenching your jaw, this may be a sign of a cracked tooth. If the chip compromises the nerves or is along the top of the tooth, the pain will be more severe.

What do I do for a chipped tooth?

If your tooth is chipped, the first thing you should do is make an appointment with your dentist. A dental professional will recommend the next steps you should take. Until you visit a dentist to fix the tooth, there are a few temporary measures that can ease pain and prevent further damage from occurring.

Home Care

First, if you are in pain, take an anti-inflammatory painkiller like ibuprofen (Motrin IB or Advil) to dull the pain.  Pain medications are not a replacement for professional dental care, and are not a long-term solution. Instead of remaining on pain medications for longer than a day or two, try using clove oil as a natural numbing agent. Clove oil contains eugenol, which naturally numbs and calms the affected area. You can also hold an icepack on the outside of your cheek, to lessen pain and reduce irritation.

The American Dental Association recommends rinsing the mouth with warm water to clean the area. Using saltwater to rinse your mouth will also lower the risk of infection.

To protect your tongue, cheeks, and gums from the jagged edges of the chipped tooth, use sugar-free gum or dental wax to cover any sharp edges.

Careful Chewing

When eating, be careful to chew with the side of your mouth furthest from the chipped tooth. Avoid any foods that are difficult to chew or require excessive chewing, and opt for foods that are soft and easy to eat like soup or soft bread. Try to choose foods with low sugar content; remember that when the enamel is chipped, the tooth has lost its protective barrier and is more vulnerable to damage and cavities.

Don’t Use Your Teeth as a Cutter

Do not try to smooth down sharp edges with sandpaper or files: you are not a trained professional and often these DIY solutions make the issue worse. Attempting to treat a chipped tooth at home can affect the structural integrity of the tooth, loosen it, or bring harmful bacteria into your mouth.

What Happens if You Don’t Fix a Chipped Tooth?

Having a crack in a tooth seriously increases your risk for cavities; the injured tooth could continue to crack, or the entire tooth could break apart. If this continues you could end up needing to get a root canal or extraction. 

When your tooth is chipped, it’s more exposed to harmful bacteria and the infection risk is higher. Infections that are left untreated can cause painful abscesses, and these localized pockets of pus around the base of a tooth can spread from the tooth to the surrounding bone structure and into other parts of the body. The usual treatment is a root canal.

The symptoms of a tooth infection include: sensitivity to extreme temperature, fever, bad breath, sour taste in your mouth, and pain when eating. If you have a tooth you suspect might be chipped and you are experiencing any of these symptoms, contact a dentist immediately.  The longer a chipped tooth goes without treatment, the higher the likelihood of an infection.

What causes a chipped tooth?

What causes a tooth to chip? Age, placement, and stress.

Age and Placement

In the Korean Journal of Endodontics, it is reported in a study that older people are more likely to chip a tooth.  The majority of the patients who had cracked teeth were over 50 years old, with over 30% of the affected patients falling between the ages of 50-60 years. Placement also has an interesting impact on which teeth are most likely to crack.

The lower second molar is the most likely tooth in the human mouth to crack: though the average human has 32 teeth total, a whopping 25.1% of cracks were discovered in the lower second molars. The most likely reason for this, according to the European Journal of Dentistry, is because molars are pointed, so they dig into each other more, and experience most of the pressure of the jaw when chewing. They are placed under extreme stress daily. Any tooth, however, can break.

Stress

Severe cracks can split from the surface to the root, or from the center of the tooth to the pulp chamber, the part of the tooth containing blood vessels, nerves, and connective tissue.

 In medical terms, chips occur when there is higher energy within the dental stress plane.  When the fracture plane expands, the rate of fracture slowly accelerates, because the stress is focused on the remaining nonfractured tooth area. When there is enough pressure, the stress plane will fracture completely, and the tooth piece will separate completely along the stress plane. In some cases, a single traumatic hit can instantly create a stress plane and crack the tooth.

 Applying this to everyday situations, this stress plane fracture can happen when you suddenly bite down on hard substances, grind your teeth in your sleep, or are involved in an injurious fall or a car accident.  Weakened teeth are more likely to crack, but even healthy teeth can be at risk.

How Dentists Address Chipped Teeth

A chipped tooth is not a medical emergency unless it is severe: causing debilitating pain or significantly impacting your ability to sleep or eat.  Some dental cracks are common and harmless, and not all require treatment. Small cracks in enamel only are called ‘craze lines’, and don’t require treatment, according to a review of the scientific literature conducted in 2014.  

In order to know whether a chip is harmless, visit your dentist. The location, severity, and symptoms of a cracked tooth are what determine its treatment.

So what can a dentist do to help you?  When you go into your dentist’s office for your appointment, the first thing they’ll do is perform a comprehensive dental exam to help them assess the situation.

Analyzing the situation

To determine how much damage has occurred, they will conduct a bite test, use a magnifying glass to examine the tooth, and may also give you an X-ray to view the structure of the tooth.  Thankfully, fixing a minor tooth chip is usually painless, non-intrusive, and quick. In most cases, your dentist can fix a minor chip by cosmetic contouring, polishing and smoothing the rough edge until it’s back to normal.  In more severe cases, there are more options: tooth reattachment, bonding, or veneers.

Separate Solutions

Tooth reattachment is simply reattaching the chip of the tooth. If you still have the piece of tooth that chipped off, place it in a dental solution like Save-a-Tooth (available at most drugstores), or milk, to preserve it until your appointment. Your dentist may be able to reattach the fragment of the tooth into its original place.

Bonding is done by cementing a composite resin or porcelain to the surface of your tooth and shaping it into the outline of your tooth.  The dentist’s office will use ultraviolet (UV) lights to dry the material until it is hard and durable like enamel. Further shaping will occur until the bonding material exactly fits your teeth. Dental bonds are a good solution which can last up to ten years.

 Before attaching a veneer to your tooth, a dentist will shave away a tiny piece, usually less than a millimeter, of your tooth’s enamel to create space to attach the veneer. Then your dentist will make an impression of the surface of your tooth and send it away to the lab which will craft the porcelain veneer. When the veneer has been shipped back to the dentist’s office, it will be bonded to your tooth. Because lab-created veneers are extremely durable, they can last for up to 30 years.

Chips that go below the surface require more serious solutions. If the crack reaches the tooth’s pulp, your dentist may have to perform a root canal to remove the infected tooth pulp. They will disinfect and clean out your tooth, then fill the tooth and seal it with a filling to prevent future damage.

If the crack extends to the root, you might need to amputate the root of the tooth, in a surgery called a hemisection, or even completely remove the tooth.

Costs

Depending on the part of the country you live in, dental costs vary greatly. Costs also are determined by the severity of the crack, as well as what part of the tooth is affected. As a general estimate though, here’s how much these common solutions cost:

• Tooth smoothing usually costs about $100.

• Tooth reattachment’s main cost is the dental exam, between $50-350. Tooth reattachment requires very little in materials so the charge itself is minimal.

• Bonding can cost anywhere from $100 to $1,000, depending on how much complexity it requires.

• Veneers range from $500- $2,000. This depends on how much preparation the tooth surface requires and the materials your dentist chooses to use.
  
• Most insurance companies cover strictly necessary dental procedures, although they may not cover the more cosmetic dental procedures.

How do I prevent chipped teeth?

To avoid having to undergo surgeries like this, it’s important to understand how to prevent chipped teeth. Protecting your teeth from injury only requires caution and a bit of thinking ahead.

Sports

If you play sports- contact or non-contact- consider using a mouthguard while you play. One unexpected blow to the face can cause teeth to crack or even be suddenly dislodged.  Your dentist’s office can create a custom mouthguard for you, and you’re more likely to be saved from experiencing chips in your teeth.

Proper Chewing

When you eat, biting down on something hard like ice or candy can cause your teeth to crack, as can eating ribs or chicken wings if your teeth encounter the hard bone at the wrong angle.

Teeth aren’t Tools

Don’t use your teeth as a tool. Using your teeth to open a bag or can put your teeth under extreme stress, leading to weakened teeth.  Your teeth are not designed to withstand the pressure of opening items and should be used only for their intended purpose: chewing food.

Oral Care

Poor oral hygiene is one major culprit in tooth decay. When your teeth are covered in bacteria they are in a weakened state, and they are more prone to fracture.

Teeth grinding

Teeth grinding causes your tooth enamel to break off. This bad habit, also called bruxism, weakens teeth due to the enormous pressure, leading to chips. This weakens teeth and raises the risk of exposing the tooth’s dentin, the sensitive inner tissue of the tooth.

Teeth grinding, also called bruxism, can cause your tooth enamel to break off due to the excessive pressure. This can make teeth weaker and increase the risk of exposure of the sensitive inner layer of the tooth called the dentin.

Conclusion

Chipped teeth are frustrating and can even be scary, but your dentists are here to help you. Chattanooga Family Dental offers the quality dental care you deserve, whether you have a chipped tooth or another dental situation. Schedule an appointment with us today!

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Our team of dental experts has well over 30 years of combined experience in the field of dentistry. To learn more about them, please visit our team page or stop by the clinic and say hello!