What to do when you have a broken tooth
What do you do when you have a broken tooth? Though teeth are resilient, tooth fractures or breaks can still occur. There are multiple ways this can happen. Biting too hard, untreated cavities, and being hit in the mouth are some of the most common ways fractures or breaks take place.
What you can do for a broken or fractured tooth:
For a fractured tooth, there is really nothing you can do to actually fix it except go see the dentist. Even if a fracture looks small there could be an underlying fracture that negatively affects the nerve. There are some things you can do to alleviate pain until you are able to go to the dentist’s office:
Rinse Your Mouth. This helps clean away some of the broken tooth debris and helps to sanitize the now exposed area.
Apply Pressure To Reduce Bleeding. Use gauze and apply enough pressure so that the bleeding from the injury diminishes or stops.
Take pain killers sparingly. You’ll most likely want or even feel that you need to take pain killers to numb the sensation from the fractured tooth. This is perfectly understandable, just be sure to not use more than the recommended dosage.
What the dentist can do for a fractured or broken tooth
Before doing anything with the tooth or teeth will be examined to see what type of break occurred and the severity of it. We take a look through x-rays then determine the best course of action for the patient.
If a fracture is not too severe, it is usually able to be restored using a composite filling material in the missing area.
The fracture is sometimes too bad to be recovered with this method, then a crown procedure is the next available option. Crowns are coverings made of porcelain that encompass the tooth and protect them. This helps prevent the tooth from fracturing more and from future breakdown.
Sometimes even this method is not enough and an extraction of the tooth may be required. This is a simple procedure done with anesthesia. The only sensation you should feel is pressure on the area being operated on.
Want to learn more or looking for dental care in the Carlisle, PA area? Give us a call!
