Suffering from a chipped tooth is a frustrating experience, one that can cause a broad range of problems that may require a specialist to manage fully. But what can a dentist do for a chipped tooth? They can take your dental care in hand and do what is necessary to protect your oral health.
So, what can a dentist do for a chipped tooth? They can provide a surprising range of benefits that make it more than worth considering for your needs. Thankfully, there should be a handful of different choices that you can make and which your dentist will try to handle with ease and simplicity for you.
Examine Your Mouth Before Providing Care
Before you can answer “what can a dentist do for a chipped tooth?” it is crucial to track the extent of the damage in your mouth. Often, this process is the very first step because it will help to figure out what kind of problems you are experience and what kind of care may be necessary.
Thankfully, these processes should be fairly easy to understand and usually don’t take a lot of time to execute properly. That said, it is critical that you understand some of the most important of them to ensure that you have a better grasp of what to prepare for when visiting a dentist:
- Quick Physical Examination – Your dentist will take a little time to examine the inside of your mouth before performing any damaged tooth repair. Typically, this process requires them to open up their mouth and look throughout it with light and mirrors to identify the source of the cracks.
- X-Rays – Your general dentistry professional may also take several x-rays to examine the inside of your mouth. This step is critical because it helps to spot the potential spread of various types of damage in your mouth and minimizes the potential for cracks to spread even further.
- Tooth Impressions – There may be a chance that your dentist asks for an impression of your tooth to get a look at its overall structure. This step is also important if they need to take any other hands-on steps that help to minimize your damage and provide your mouth with the strong support it needs.
All of these simple steps will make it easier for your dentist to diagnose the extent of your oral damage. Then, they’ll take the time to perform various types of emergency oral treatment, if necessary, to keep your tooth strong. Learning these methods will teach you to understand the question, “what can a dentist do for a chipped tooth?”
Apply a Filling or Bonding Method
So what can a dentist do for a chipped tooth after you’ve been examined and the issue properly understood? There are many health care services that your dentist may be applied to apply for you. Typically, they will start with something fairly simple to minimize your investment.
For instance, they may start with a filling or teeth bonding procedure. A filling is used if the hole is small enough for a small bit of metal or other material to fit within the crack and correct it easily. However, bonding may also be necessary for some situations. This process includes:
- Etching the Tooth – Your dentist will start by carefully etching the surface of your tooth with a unique liquid or gel. This process is necessary to prepare the crack and the rest of your tooth for the bonding process. Usually, this is the quickest part of this unique process.
- Adhesive Application – After the tooth has been etched and properly prepared for the bonding process, the dentist will add an adhesive that will hold the resin down to your tooth. They then apply the resin to your tooth and then perform the next step to ensure that the crack is fixed.
- Tweaking the Resin – Once the resin is applied to your tooth, the dentist will carefully sculpt it and shape it to ensure that it matches your natural tooth shape and size. After this step, they harden the resin with a UV light to ensure that it is as strong as possible for your needs as a person.
Most of the time, this process should handle all the dental troubles that occur with a cracked tooth. However, you may also need some orthodontics care to handle some of these processes. Make sure you understand them before you start to ensure that you are satisfied with your overall oral health.
Consider Veneers If Necessary
Dental veneers are often a good middle ground between a filling and a cap because they do cover the tooth and fill the hole without requiring a lot of specialized approaches. Often, it is the option most dentists take first after measuring your tooth because it is often the easiest to execute and doesn’t take a lot of time to properly manage.
A veneer is a piece of material designed to fit over your tooth’s surface. It doesn’t necessarily fill deep cracks but does keep them from worsening and damaging the interior of your tooth. Typically, they are made out of a bit of strong resin or porcelain that is created in a high-quality laboratory.
When properly fit, a good veneer should protect your tooth and provide the long-lasting support that it needs to stay strong and secure. Typically, this process includes just a few simple steps that make it effective, including:
- Inspecting the tooth to see how bad the crack has spread
- Taking a mold of the tooth to make it easier to fix
- Fitting a thin shell of resin or porcelain over the crack
- Carefully adjusting this resin cap to minimize any challenges
The benefits of this approach are diverse, including more protection than a filling but less surgery time than a cap. However, what can a dentist do for a chipped tooth if it continues to worsen? They may have to adjust or repair your veneer or consider adding a cap or crown to keep it safe.
Add a Dental Cap or Crown
In some cases, your restorative dentistry service may have to choose a dental cap or crown to protect your overall oral health. There are a few different reasons why you may need this type of care, including if veneers aren’t quite right for your needs as a person or for your tooth.
Thankfully, a cap or a crown is a fairly simple addition to your tooth and shouldn’t be too hard to understand fully. Most people should find that this process handles most of their oral health needs with minimal difficulties and many advantages. Typically, this process includes:
- Removing the Dead Pulp – Most of the time, your dentist will have to remove any of the dead pulp throughout your tooth by using root canal treatments. This method helps to minimize the pain you may otherwise suffer and make it simpler to get high-quality crowns or caps.
- Take a Tooth Impression – After removing any dead pulp from your teeth, your dentist will take an impression of the top of your tooth to get an idea of what kind of cap they need to add. They handle this process in a few ways, including x-rays and a fitted clay on your tooth.
- Cap the Tooth – After taking an impression of your tooth, your dentist will then create a crown that they can use to fit over the top. This crown or cap will stay in place and provide your tooth with the extra protection it needs to minimize the potential damage it may otherwise experience.
This option is often the ultimate end for many people’s dental care because it can provide so many high-quality benefits. Understanding these advantages will help to make it easier for you to decide if this choice is the best for your needs:
- Saves the Pulp – Although your dentist may have to remove some of the pulp for your crown, they may not remove all. And a good crown can help to protect the interior of your tooth and ensure that it doesn’t get infected and need to be treated with more specialized help.
- Protects the Tooth – When properly fitted, a good crown protects the interior of the tooth by covering the crack and minimizing the spread of plaque and other elements. Doing so helps to ensure that it remains strong and secure for years to come without difficulty.
- Improves Aesthetic Appearance – Strong crowns don’t just serve an important useful function. They also help to enhance the overall look of your tooth and ensure that it doesn’t need to be pulled. In this way, you can have the gorgeous smile that you’ve always wanted without any challenges.
- Prevents Surgery – At this point, the only next logical answer to the question “what can a dentist do for a chipped tooth?” is a surgical replacement. Thankfully, a high-quality dental cap will minimize the risk of this problem and ensure that your mouth is fully protected from this danger.
Most of the time, your cracked tooth treatment is likely to end here. But what can a dentist for a chipped tooth that just doesn’t react well to this treatment or continues to worsen? At this point, there’s not much choice but to open yourself up to potential surgery.
Debate Surgery, If Required
If you’re still not sure of the answer to “what can a dentist do for a chipped tooth?” because your chip is huge and needs a lot of focused attention, it may be time to find the best dentist for long-term surgical options. There’s a good chance that you’ll need something more serious than your basic treatment.
For example, the dentist may need to remove your tooth and replace it with an alternative option that is designed to keep your mouth as strong as possible. This decision is not made lightly and is one that dental experts will take very seriously to ensure your mouth is protected. This process includes how they:
- Come to a Decision – Once all other care options have been fully explored by your dental expert, they may end up deciding to pull your tooth. This option is upsetting but is a better choice than letting a severely cracked tooth worsen and spread potential infection in your mouth.
- Remove the Tooth – If your tooth has to go due to its crack, your dentist will number the area with various treatments to minimize your pain. Then, they’ll either cut it out of your mouth or pull it out, depending on the severity of the problem and the risk of the tooth shattering in your mouth.
- Get Fitted – After your dental professional understands the full range of your cracks and removed the offending tooth, they can fit you with dentures to protect your oral health. In some cases, this may require removing more than one tooth or may only require a bridge or implant to fix properly.
In most cases, you should be able to avoid surgery if you get immediate dental care and take care of this problem as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, there’s also a chance that you might end up needing surgery if this problem worsens due to inaction or if it was severe enough initially.
What Can a Dentist Do for a Chipped Tooth? Manage Your Pain
As you can see, the answer to the question “what can a dentist do for a chipped tooth?” is surprisingly diverse. There are many potential options that you can consider here, each of which has benefits that should be carefully weighed before you make any type of treatment option for your needs.
Just as importantly, you need to make sure that you fully understand how each of these methods affects your insurance. When you properly balance your oral health care with your insurance policy, you avoid unnecessarily large payments and ensure that you are satisfied with your overall oral treatment.
