A tooth can crack or chip at any time, for a number of various reasons. You can have the healthiest teeth and the best oral hygiene, and still deal with a chipped tooth. That's life, but you don't have to live with it. Here at Gorgeous Smiles, we want to help you on your self-love journey, one imperfect tooth at a time.
Chipped teeth can be minor or major, so it's important that you see a dentist as soon as possible to make sure you don't suffer any more damage while you're assessing your options. We can go through everything you need to know as soon as your tooth is stabilised!
Some chipped teeth are obvious and you'll be able to see where the missing portion of the tooth used to be. However, we've seen patients who have much smaller chips that can be more difficult to find, especially when they're at the back of your mouth or on the underside of the tooth.
When you have a chipped tooth, you'll most likely experience symptoms like pain when eating and sensitivity to hot and cold foods and drinks.
Chips and cracks can appear in a number of different ways, so everyone's experience is different. The best way to tell whether you have a chipped tooth is to head straight to your dentist's office. We should be able to tell you straight away!
Most dental issues, such as teeth gaps and crooked teeth, don't need to be treated straight away as long as they're not causing major damage, but for chips we recommend the complete opposite. We want to get you seen as soon as possible to minimise damaging the chipped tooth any more than it already is, as this can lead to further symptoms and pain.
Luckily for us, there are plenty of treatment options for chipped teeth. Depending on the severity of your chip, we'll be able to recommend you the best treatment plan to get your tooth as good as new again. Hopefully, this should reduce the pain and discomfort you're feeling with the chip!
There's quite a few ways to fix chipped teeth, with the most common for minor cracks being dental bonding. We'll almost always recommend bonding as long as your chip isn't severe, because it's quick, efficient, and effective for reshaping the tooth. But what if you don't want dental bonding? Is there another option available to you?
Luckily, yes there is, so let's look at these right now.
Tooth bonding is one of the best ways to reshape the chipped tooth and replace the missing piece in a natural way, and we can get you in and out within just one hour! Bonding uses a composite resin to fix a number of dental issues, including discolouration, decay, and chips. The bonding material we use is durable and strong enough to act like your natural tooth so you should be able to eat and drink like normal.
The good thing about bonding is that it's minimally invasive and shouldn't hurt at all. We'll rough up your tooth a little before applying a conditioning liquid, then apply the bonding material before moulding it to the natural shape of your tooth. Once the putty has dried we'll shapen and polish it to blend it in seamlessly with the rest of your tooth. The bonding will need to be replaced between three and ten years, so make sure you look after it to prevent having to come back in too soon!
To learn more about dental bonding, keep reading here.
When patients are suffering from a more severely broken or chipped tooth, we might recommend porcelain veneer implants. There are several types of veneer available, but we think porcelain covers are the most effective for a broken tooth, and they also look the most natural.
Veneers are bonded to the back and front of your tooth to completely transform the appearance of your tooth. However, it's likely that we'll need to remove some of the tooth enamel before placing the dental veneers to prevent the tooth from looking too bulky or unnatural.
Porcelain veneers are long lasting and strong, so you may be able to go up to thirty years without replacing your veneers. However, they're very expensive and irreversible, so if there's another less invasive method of fixing your chipped or broken tooth, we'll often recommend this over veneers.
To learn more about veneers, keep reading here.
Dental crowns are similar to veneers, but they're more so used only for single damaged tooth repair rather than cosmetic reasons. A crown is a cap that we use to cover jagged edges of the chipped tooth after we remove some of the tooth's structure. Yes, the process is similar to veneers. However, as the tooth is already damaged, filing it down to fit within the crown won't be such a change, and the process is limited to only one tooth rather than all of them.
Crowns are long lasting up to 15 years, and they can improve confidence while reducing pain instantly. This is because the crown covers the exposed nerves from within the teeth, keeping them from exposure to hot and cold temperatures which can lead to pain and discomfort. However, the drawbacks of crowns include risk of nerve damage and infection, and their higher costs.
To learn more about dental crowns, keep reading here.
Sometimes we see chipped teeth that have been left for a while turn into cracked teeth, with the damage reaching right down to the root or pulp of the tooth. Not only is this super painful, but it's also irreversible. We'll need to remove the tooth to prevent the pain from reoccurring. Some dentists might offer a filling to see if this reduces the discomfort, but we often recommend a root canal to get it fixed right away. We'll offer you a root canal and then a crown or dental implant to fill the hole.
During a root canal we'll clean out the decayed tooth material before removing the nerve altogether. We know it sounds painful, but you'll be numbed with anaesthesia before to minimise your discomfort during the procedure.
We don't often recommend a root canal for a broken or chipped tooth unless you're dealing with other symptoms such as sensitivity, swelling, and toothache. You might be at a higher risk of getting an infection or abscess if your tooth isn't treated, so we don't take the idea of root canals lightly.
To learn more about root canal therapy, keep reading here.
When chips aren't dealt with in a timely manner, they might turn to cracks which can reach right up underneath the gum line. Unfortunately when this happens, there's not much we can do other than removing the tooth. However, that's where the dental implant comes in, which can save your teeth from moving around and feeling the absence of the tooth for too long.
When placing a dental implant, we will fit a screw into your jaw where the tooth root used to be. We'll then send you away and wait between four and nine months for the implant to fuse with your jawbone, before bringing you back in to fit your new permanent teeth. The implant is a permanent solution and therefore won't need replacing, although it's possible your new tooth might become discoloured or cracked overtime. Luckily, we can fix this much easier than your natural tooth!
To learn more about dental implants, keep reading here.
Fillings are best suited for a small chip only, so we can only recommend it to a small number of people who have the most minor chips. It's best used for when you chip the edge of the tooth where the filling material can be used to smooth the edge rather than replacing a large portion of the natural tooth.
The benefit of dental filling is that it's often a cheap option and it will only take one session to fix. However, like we've already mentioned, dental fillings are only suitable for fixing minimal chips that need smoothing out. We'd recommend dental bonding over fillings.
To learn more about fillings, keep reading here.
Chipped or broken teeth can be frustrating, but luckily there are many potential ways to fix the problem depending on the severity of your chip. For example, minor chips might be able to be fixed with a simple filling or dental bonding session, while major chips that have led to cracks might need to be fixed with dental implants and root canals. The best way to get your treatment plan underway is to come and see your dentist so we can assess the issue and lay out your treatment options for you to pick from.
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