Repairing a chipped tooth is typically fairly easy to treat. Depending on how bad the chipped tooth is, your dentist can bring back your smile through several restoration processes.
Despite being the toughest mineralized tissue in the body, enamel can still be broken. Whether it happened when you fall down the flight of stairs, blunt trauma to your mouth or simply by chewing ice or hard candy, it can damage your tooth and this requires immediate attention.
What To Do?
Before anything else, you must know what to do the moment you chip a tooth.
- Firstly, you should schedule an appointment with your dentist as soon as possible. If left unattended, chips and fractures can become a lot worse, either by fracturing more or developing an infection.
- If the chipped tooth is causing you pain, rinse your mouth with salt water or use an over the counter pain reliever.
- If the chipped tooth leaves a sharp edge, use paraffin wax or gum to cover the tooth and protect your gums.
- Always avoid hard food during this period, but if you must eat before your dental appointment, choose soft food instead such as mashed potatoes, smoothies, porridge, etc to avoid biting down on your gums which may cause further damage.
Treatment for a Broken Tooth
There are several types of treatment for a chipped tooth, depending on the severity of the fracture. If it’s a small crack or chip, it usually takes one visit to the dentist to solve, while more severe fractures may need several appointments.
For small fractures and chips, your dentist may recommend a simple procedure called ‘bonding’. Tooth bonding does not require numbing of the tooth and is an affordable, quick and painless way to repair many cosmetic flaws. To bond a tooth, the dentist will add a liquid or gel to prepare the tooth for the bonding material. Next, the dentist applies an adhesive and attaches the bonding material. The material is shaped to look like a natural tooth and is then dried by applying an ultraviolet light to harden the material.
For larger fractures, a crown can be placed over the teeth. This requires filing down enough of the tooth to then place a cap over it and cement it down. This protects the exposed underside of the tooth while allowing you the ability to chew and smile normally. Crowns involve taking an X-ray and impressions of your teeth for a crown to be made. On a second visit, with a permanent crown ready, your dentist will use a composite cement to permanently place the crown over your tooth.
If the fracture of the tooth is so large that it exposes the root or pulp of the tooth (the center which contains nerves and blood vessels), root canal treatment is needed. This treatment involves removing the remaining pieces of tooth along with the dead pulp. The dentist then cleans out the empty root canal and seals it to avoid infection. A crown is placed on the tooth to complete treatment.
There are many options for chipped, broken, and fractured teeth, but only a medical professional can determine the right solution for you.
With about 10,000 Baby Boomers in the U.S retiring every single day. often the loss of dental benefits goes hand in hand with the retirement process. Dentists caution that maintaining good oral health during retirement is as critical as taking care of any other part of the body. “Dental coverage, even basic care, is not and never will be provided under Medicare or the Affordable care act, and supplemental private policies are very expensive,” said Dr. Steve Mascarin. “The result is, over 70% of retiring baby boomers have no dental insurance. This is significant because that mass of boomers is highly unlikely to return for the vital regular six-month cleaning visit.” People are living much longer today than in just the most recent generation—in some cases three decades or more—It’s important to ask your dental provider to educate you on best practices to take care of your teeth as you age. Ignoring oral health can lead to poor overall health too. “The inability to chew leads to malnutrition, warped speech, pain, social isolation due to embarrassment, and is a contributing factor to heart disease, stroke, diabetes, erectile dysfunction and Alzheimer’s disease,” he said. “The most important cost effective habits that boomers must continue into retirement are regular home care, 3-6 month professional cleanings and annual check-ups from a dentist.” Maintaining good oral health needs to begin as soon as retirement does, if you aren’t already, because that is when teeth are in the best condition. “Most baby boomers have received regular dental care for most of their lives and thus go into retirement with most or all their own teeth. But many lose their dental benefits when they retire and unfortunately stop their regular cleaning and maintenance appointments. This is a huge mistake. Three to six-month cleanings are necessary not only to prevent major problems but to identify and treat potential problems in the early stages to avoid the need for implants, root canal or oral surgery. Who wouldn’t rather have an easy small filling than one of the big league treatments?” The importance of regular checkups and cleanings can also have a huge impact on overall health . Periodontal disease and gum infection worsens when you miss a cleaning. “This occurs in 80% of the population. Bacteria, which is always present in every human’s mouth, are given the chance to fester and grow below the gum line where home brushing and flossing don’t reach. Incidentally, this is what your dental hygienist cleans at your cleaning appointment where you can’t reach. The infection slowly grows, eating away supporting bone, causing severe bad breath and most notably, significantly increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and erectile dysfunction. And now we are finding links with Alzheimer’s disease. Thousands of studies are proving that gum infections are a contributing factor to heart disease, stroke, adult onset diabetes and erectile dysfunction.” In an article for Medical News Today, Honor Whiteman described a study by researchers from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) in the UK who found that people with poor oral hygiene or gum disease could be at higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s compared with those who have healthy teeth. Researchers had discovered the presence of bacterium called Porphyromonas gingivitis in the brains of patients who had dementia when they were alive. This bug, they wrote in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, where the study was published, is usually associated with chronic periodontal disease. The university’s study adds to previous findings by New York University in 2010 that linked poor oral health to Alzheimer’s disease. Those researchers asserted that gum disease could increase the risk of cognitive dysfunction. Prof. StJohn Crean, executive dean of the College of Clinical and Biomedical Sciences and the School of Medical Dentistry at UCLan, was quoted by Whiteman on this most recent research: “Whereas previous studies have indicated a link between dementia and other bacteria and viruses such as the Herpes simplex virus type 1, this new research indicates a possible association between gum disease and individuals who may be susceptible to developing Alzheimer’s disease, if exposed to the appropriate trigger. Research currently underway at UCLan is playing an active role in exploring this link, but it remains to be proven whether poor dental hygiene can lead to dementia in healthy people, which obviously could have significant implications for the population as a whole. It is also likely that these bacteria could make the existing disease condition worse.” The Alzheimer’s Society concurs that there are two main types of dental disease—gum (periodontal) disease and tooth decay (commonly known as cavities)—when these diseases worsen, the confusion associated with dementia grows. Technological advances in Dentistry have come a long way since wooden dentures. Dentures in the 21st century are usually made from various types of acrylic resin or porcelain with implants or posts surgically placed to the upper or lower jaw to anchor a replacement tooth, several teeth or a full set of dentures, are made of titanium and other materials that are easily accepted by the human body. With materials closer to natural teeth than ever before, dentures have become more translucent, as opposed to ceramic or cheaper acrylic and is becoming increasingly less expensive. When looking for a for a dentist who caters to aging teeth, consider asking questions specific to the needs of baby boomers. Washington Park Dentists are versed in all matters that are most important during retirement.