Broken Tooth

What Is a Broken Tooth?

A broken tooth occurs when damage affects its structure. Sometimes the damage is slight and barely noticeable. Other times, it can be far more serious, requiring emergency dental care.

Any tooth can break, but your front teeth are particularly susceptible to trauma. Your larger back teeth or molars can crack under the pressure of chewing food.

Common Causes of Cracked Teeth

There are numerous reasons a tooth can become cracked or broken, including:

• General wear and tear, especially as you get older.
• Trauma, as suffering an accident or blow to the mouth, can easily crack a tooth.
• Biting down on ice cubes, popcorn kernels, or hard candies.
• Teeth grinding and clenching, or bruxism, can damage teeth substantially.
• Dental treatments like a large filling or root canal therapy can weaken a tooth, especially if it is not covered with a crown.

Symptoms Of a Cracked Tooth

Minor damage to a tooth may not cause any symptoms, but any larger breakages could cause signs, including:

• Tooth sensitivity to hot and cold, or if you eat something sweet or sour.
• Swollen gums around the affected tooth.
• Pain when biting or chewing.
• Bad breath.

Different Types of Broken Teeth

There are various ways teeth can crack or break; some are more serious than others.

Craze Lines in Tooth Enamel

Small craze lines or hairline cracks can develop in tooth enamel. These are generally painless and may not require any treatment.

Tooth Cusp Fracture

The cusps or points on a tooth can fracture. This is more likely to happen if a tooth has a large filling in its center, such as a premolar or molar.

Cracked Tooth

A tooth can crack vertically from its incisal or biting edge right down to the gum line. The crack may extend below the gum into the tooth root.

Split Tooth

This type of damage is more serious because the tooth can split into two separate pieces. The damage can affect the tooth crown and the tooth root.

Vertical Tooth Root Fracture

With this damage, the tooth is fractured below the gum line, so it may appear healthy. A severe tooth root fracture can affect the dental pulp, potentially causing broken tooth pain.

Why You Shouldn’t Ignore a Cracked Tooth

If you damage a tooth, it’s important to have it professionally assessed, even if the damage seems minor. This is because any break in your tooth enamel allows bacteria naturally present in your mouth to penetrate the tooth.

Once these bacteria enter the tooth, they quickly begin to create a cavity, or hole, that eventually reaches the dental pulp. The dental pulp is located at the center of the tooth and consists of the tooth nerve, connective tissues, and blood vessels.

If the dental pulp tissues become infected, it can cause a severe toothache. Without treatment, the toothache can develop into a dental abscess that spreads beyond the tooth, and you could need emergency dental treatment.

There is the risk that you could lose the tooth or that the infection could affect your overall health.

Signs that a cracked tooth has become a serious issue include:

• Fever
• Facial swelling.
• Swollen lymph nodes in your neck.
• A general feeling of being very unwell.

The sooner you get treatment for a broken tooth, the more likely we can complete a cracked tooth repair, protecting your oral and overall health.

Diagnosing a Cracked Tooth

When you visit Dental Pearl, we can gently examine your teeth and diagnose if any are cracked or broken. The diagnosis involves a visual exam and most likely digital dental X-rays.

These X-rays are invaluable because they reveal damage hidden from view and indicate whether a tooth has been severely cracked. They also allow us to see any signs of infection and damage to the surrounding tissues.

Repairing Broken Teeth

After completing our dental exam, we can provide a custom treatment plan outlining the best approach for your cracked tooth repair. Various treatments may be suggested, which include:

• Smoothing tooth enamel.
• Dental bonding.
• Porcelain veneers.
• Porcelain crowns.
• Root canal treatment.
• Crown lengthening.
• Tooth extraction.

Smoothing Tooth Enamel

This is a process called enamel contouring and is suitable if you have small cracks in a tooth or if we need to smooth any sharp edges. Once these edges are smooth, we can carefully polish the tooth, completing your treatment.

Dental Bonding

We can apply tooth-colored composite resin directly to a damaged tooth surface, bonding it and repairing any small cracks or other signs of damage. This treatment is cost-effective, and we can complete your broken tooth repair quickly, and the composite resin can look very natural.

Porcelain Veneers

If you have a minor chip or crack in a front tooth, we may suggest covering it with a porcelain veneer. This is a custom-made shell that fits over the front surface of the tooth, mending and hiding the damage and protecting the tooth.

Porcelain veneers are long-lasting and durable, and should look good for years with the right aftercare.

Porcelain Crowns

We would suggest a porcelain crown to protect a tooth that is more severely cracked or broken. The crown covers the tooth entirely, replacing lost tooth structure and restoring strength and appearance.

Root Canal Treatment

If a crack or break in a tooth has affected the dental pulp, so it is infected and inflamed, we will recommend root canal therapy to save it. This treatment will quickly relieve cracked tooth pain and eliminate the infection.

The process removes the damaged pulp and tissues extending into the root canals. After treatment, we can permanently seal the tooth and place a dental crown to protect it.

Crown Lengthening

Trauma to a tooth can sometimes break it off near the gum line, leaving little tooth structure available to restore it. Crown lengthening can uncover more tooth structure below the gum line, exposing enough of the tooth so we can restore and protect it with a dental crown.

Tooth Extraction

Unfortunately, we cannot save every broken tooth. A tooth that has cracked vertically and may have separated into two parts almost certainly needs to be extracted. This is always the last resort, and we will take the time to explain why a tooth must be removed and to discuss suitable ways to replace it.

Protecting Your Teeth against Damage

We would far rather practice preventive dentistry than carry out a broken tooth repair, and although some accidents may be unavoidable, there are ways you can reduce the risk of damage to your teeth.

1. Get Regular Checkups

These visits are really important because we can examine your teeth carefully for any damage you may not have noticed. Early treatment helps reduce the risk of long-term damage and is more cost-effective.

2. Purchase a Custom-Made Mouthguard

If you like playing sports or have a teeth-grinding and clenching habit, a custom-made mouthguard is vital. It is inexpensive and made to fit your teeth exactly, providing maximum protection.

3. Quit Habits That Can Hurt Your Teeth

Crunching ice cubes, using your teeth as tools, or biting your nails can damage your teeth. Consciously avoid these habits if you can to protect your precious teeth.