What Should I Do if I Chip My Tooth?

Feb 7, 2023 | Blog Posts

What Should I Do if I Chip My Tooth

Chipping a tooth can be an upsetting experience. Fortunately, seeking chipped tooth repair after dental trauma can restore your smile and help protect your oral health.

If you have a chipped or cracked tooth, you should reach out to Albion Family Dental for our emergency dental services as soon as possible. It is also helpful to understand what causes chipped teeth and your options for repairing them.

Common Causes of a Chipped Tooth

You may think that dental trauma only occurs in serious events like car accidents, but that’s not necessarily the case.1 Some of the most common causes of dental damage also include:

While collisions are certainly a common reason for dental trauma, many other reasons don’t involve contact sports or car accidents. Bad habits, such as chewing on ice or pen caps or even the simple wearing down of tooth enamel over the years, can be enough to do significant damage.

What to Do When You Damage a Tooth

Whether your chip is tiny or more noticeable, it’s best to see the dentist as soon as possible. A damaged tooth is more susceptible to decay and infection and therefore presents a risk to your oral health. Not only does a chipped tooth create more opportunities for infection, but the jagged edges of the damaged tooth could also cut the soft tissues of your mouth.

Unless there is significant bleeding or extreme pain, your first step after damaging a tooth should be to speak with a dentist. After you’ve scheduled an appointment to see them, you can rinse your mouth gently, take over-the-counter pain medication, and/or hold an ice pack near the area where the damage occurred.

Chipped Tooth Repair Options

At Albion Family Dental, we can treat patients with chipped, damaged, and broken teeth. Our first step in treating them is to try to ease the patient’s mind by letting them know that their smile can be restored with the help of one of the following chipped tooth repair procedures:

Tooth Fillings and Bonding

Fillings and bonding are some of the most common chipped tooth repair procedures we offer at Albion Family Dental. They are often used to treat and prevent decay but can also be used on non-front-facing teeth that have been chipped or otherwise damaged. The filling material is made from a tooth-colored composite resin.

If the damage is to front-facing teeth, then your dentist will likely use bonding rather than a filling. With bonding, your dentist attaches a tooth-colored composite resin to the broken tooth and then shapes it to match the existing teeth. This option is simple, pain-free, and highly effective. Bonding can last for many years and will be virtually indistinguishable from your natural teeth.

Dental Crown

When dental trauma is fairly significant, sometimes the best tooth repair option is a dental crown.

A dental crown is similar to bonding in retaining much of the natural tooth while using a strong material to replace what has been lost. Dental crowns are different from bonding because they can restore teeth that are more severely damaged.

Dental crowns are typically made from porcelain, a combination of porcelain and metal, or composite resin. Each option has different benefits, mostly regarding durability, aesthetics, and cost. Crowns are also used as part of other procedures, such as root canal treatments and dental bridges. Your dentist will recommend the most appropriate solution for your individual situation.

Dental Veneers

The dental veneer procedure involves the attachment of thin custom-made shells to the front-facing teeth in order to give them a symmetrical appearance. They’re a great way to repair minor damage to one or more front-facing teeth all at once. Veneers are also helpful for addressing other dental cosmetic issues with those same teeth to gain both a healthy and aesthetically pleasing smile.

They are a minimally invasive and fairly simple way to transform your smile when you have damaged teeth. Front-facing teeth are the only teeth that can have veneers, and it only addresses minor cosmetic issues. Extensive damage, decay, or misalignment would require different dental procedures.

Dental Implants

Dental implants are one of the most popular ways to replace teeth and restore smiles today. This procedure involves surgically inserting a titanium post into the jawbone. Once the post has healed, an abutment and permanent crown are attached to the post. The fusion process, known as osseointegration, affords the implant a level of strength and durability that no other tooth replacement procedure can offer.

This option is one to consider if the damage to your tooth is so extensive that tooth extraction is necessary. If that’s not the case for you, options like veneers and bonding may be the most likely candidates for repairing your tooth.

Repairing Your Chipped Tooth at Albion Family Dental

If you’ve recently experienced a traumatic dental injury in Albion, NY, Albion Family Dental can provide you with the gentle, skilled care you need to restore and protect your smile. To schedule an appointment, contact Albion Family Dental today by calling us at 585-589-9044.

 

Sources:

[1] https://www.mayoclinic.org/medical-professionals/trauma/news/taking-it-on-the-chin-how-to-manage-dental-trauma/mac-20535612