You can never tell exactly when something is going to happen, but you can always learn what to do, so when it does happen you are not at a loss and know how to behave.
Imagine, you are enjoying your meal at a restaurant or watching a favorite movie, eating popcorn, and, suddenly, your tooth breaks over a hard food. It happens. Do not panic, and see what you can do in such a situation.
But first, let’s go for a few years back and consider the options for a broken tooth you might have been offered.
To begin with, you would be suggested to remove the damaged tooth, as there were no other alternatives to that. Instead of the removed tooth, a bridge-prosthesis would be installed. Then, you would have both adjacent teeth grinding accordingly for the bridge installation and the crowns. Not to mention de-pulping of these teeth in order to remove nerves. Gradually, under the crowns, the teeth would get spoiled, and the crowns themselves had to be changed once in a while. A very scary scenario, isn’t it?
Still, to do nothing about the broken tooth is not the way out, even if you have some kind of dental anxiety involved. A broken tooth is not only an aesthetic defect but also a psychological issue causing discomfort. There are other unpleasant consequences for it, if you do not take immediate actions: severe pain, infection of the pulp, violation of occlusion, when adjacent teeth take the place of the absent one, as well as the increased sensitivity of the gums, deformity of the roots, the appearance of cysts, crooked teeth and other after-effects.
Fortunately, nowadays, if you have broken your tooth, you can follow the following steps that will lead to a quick dental problem solving and won’t cause additional complications:
- First and foremost, contact the nearest dental clinic immediately (if possible, keep a broken tooth to show it to the doctor);
- Make a cool compress on the spot of the broken tooth;
- If there is a chance of a jaw fracture, it must be immobilized by bandaging with available material;
- It is recommended to make an x-ray of a broken tooth.
- Choose the recovery option for your tooth.
OPTIONS FOR THE RECOVERY OF TEETH
Of course, modern medicine, like any other kind of science, is constantly developing. There are several options for the recovery of the broken tooth that are offered now. For example, you can use the Maryland bridge in place of the removed tooth. To install it, you do not need to “maim” any adjacent teeth. Such bridge is fixed using a special composite retainer.
The second option for replacing a broken tooth is implantation. Although this method is somewhat expensive, the results are very good. In this case, surgery is required. Do not get alarmed, today the myths that this method is very painful to have been dispelled. Modern medicine has achieved impressive results in this type of prosthetics.
You can also be offered the following treatment methods after the fracture of the tooth: endodontic treatment, splinting, restoration of the anatomical shape of the teeth with the help of a tooth crown, and the tooth restoration.
If the cause of a broken tooth is a tooth decay, you will first need to carefully cure it. The same goes for inflamed channels, only after the proper treatment, should you try to restore your tooth. In some cases, if the tooth is too weak, a special metal tab can be used, additionally fixed with cement.
In some cases, there is no visible damage to the tooth, and pain is felt when eating. In this case, the crack can be vertical, invisible from the outside. Such teeth can be completely restored.
As was mentioned before, the possibilities of a modern dentistry are great indeed.
This post has been contributed byTowerHillDental.ca emergency dentists located in Richmond Hill.
