Dental Treatments to repair a chipped or broken tooth
Dr. D.Sendhil Nathan MDS, DNB Prosthodontics And Implantology
Chipped, cracked or broken tooth is one of the common dental issues which may happen to everyone. Even though you maintain a good oral care routine to protect your teeth from bacteria, your teeth are prone to unexpected trauma like sports injuries. Do you agree?
Enamel, the outer covering of a tooth is the hardest & most mineralized substance in our body but it has its limitations. When you bite a sturdy substance or when your teeth encounter a heavy blow, it may leave your mouth chipped or broken teeth.
The good news is you can recover the last part of a cracked tooth in a dental hospital. Dental procedures related to etching a broken tooth are explained here.
1. Dental Bonding
Dental filling and bonding are applicable when you damage or lost a small portion of the outer enamel. As the damage is not deep and reaches the nerves and tissues, a dentist will suggest tooth-colored filling material to repair the chipped tooth.
When you encounter such minor damage in the front tooth, it will affect your smile. In such cases, dental bonding procedure is required to get back the natural shape of the chipped tooth. This involves etching a tooth-colored resin in the place of the damaged portion with the help of an adhesive material.
2. Dental Veneers
Similar to dental bonding, fixing porcelain veneers is also in practice to repair a damaged front tooth.
A dental veneer is a thin layer made up of the tooth-colored resin material to cement on the surface of front teeth. It is also helpful in smile makeover treatments and teeth sensitivity as well as restoring cracked teeth.
While fitting veneers, a small portion of the tooth enamel (0.3 to 1.2 mm) is removed. It is followed by making an impression of the tooth to fabricate customized veneer for it. In general, it requires 2 dental visits to fix veneers.
3. Dental Crowns
When a tooth breaks down due to decay or the damage is quite more but it does not affect the inner pulp, tooth capping is the right approach to restore that teeth.
If the broken tooth has cavities, the infected portion needs to be carved out. Then the remaining portion of the tooth alone requires capping. If the cracked tooth does not contain cavities but requires capping for restoration, it also needs extracting small portion to make space for the crown.
4. Root Canal Treatment
Root Canal Therapy (or) Endodontic treatment is required when a large part of the tooth is broken and exposure the tooth nerves. In such cases, oral bacteria penetrate the root pulp through the damage which leads to weakening the root and eventually causes tooth loss.
Hence extracting the infected pulp is the right way to preserve the cracked tooth. A Dental surgeon or Dentist who specializes in Root Canal should handle this procedure. When the infected pulp is removed, you need a dental crown to cap the treated tooth.
Conclusion
A chipped or broken tooth has high chances to get further damage and infection. Hence we suggest you make an appointment with your Dentist as soon as possible when you meet any unexpected accident or trauma which damages a part of your teeth.
