Breaking a tooth is a daunting experience, but you can reverse its impact if you act quickly and go to the dentist to get the cosmetic damage fixed. This way, you will be able to prevent long-term problems. There can be many situations that can result in a broken tooth. Those situations include a car accident, injury during a sport, or dental problems such as a lost filling or cavity.
What happens in case a tooth breaks?
A broken tooth can range from a chip or crack in the tooth enamel to a total breakage of the tooth. Such situations lead to the exposure of the dentin or tooth pulp. Remember, tooth enamel doesn’t consist of living tissues, so you will not feel any pain if it breaks. The pain, however, occurs when the layers underneath the enamel, such as dentin and tooth pulp, come in contact with the air other foreign elements. The tooth pulp consists of active nerves, so you don’t want it to be open in any case. In some cases, tooth pain can still occur as a result of an impact, whether or not the enclosed layers of the tooth are exposed.
What to do with a broken tooth
Getting to the dentist immediately is crucial, but what’s even more crucial is to get a home emergency treatment to increase the chances of a positive outcome. A few things that you can do in case of a broken tooth are the following.
- Collect every broken piece of your tooth or teeth, and take them to the dentist.
- Rinse the tooth with warm water to get rid of the dirt and debris.
- You may need to place a cold compress to avoid swelling if the injury has broken your tooth.
- Call your dentist immediately to get an emergency appointment. It will be even more critical to see the dentist quickly if the dentin or pulp of your tooth has exposed.
According to a report published by a team of experts at Harvard Medical School, you should not chew on hard foods or cover the broken edge of your tooth using chewing gum after the injury.
In some cases, the impact of an injury can go beyond the broken tooth. An injury to the entire jaw or TMJ is also the possible outcome of an impact. An injury to the jaw may result in an overall inability to bring your upper and lower teeth together. You will want to see the dentist immediately in this scenario.
Treatment for a broken tooth
The treatment for a broken tooth will depend on the amount of damage you have received on your tooth. If the injury has caused contamination of the tooth pulp, you may want to get it removed because the tooth pulp dies over time. The dentist may also want to wait to check if your tooth pulp has been infected after surgery. If the tooth pulp is not infected, but there is a significant chip on the tooth, the dentist may want to place a dental crown. In severe cases, when there is no way to save the tooth, the dentist will choose to extract the remaining part of it.
