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Are Cracked Teeth Really A Dental Emergency?

by admin on August 14, 2017

Posted in blogs

Dental mishaps do occur from time to time and biting into hard foods or crunching down on something accidentally can leave you suffering with chipped, broken or cracked teeth.

You may be able to visibly see that a piece of your tooth has broken away, while other times it’s not so obvious. When this happens, it’s important to visit us straight away for necessary cracked teeth treatment to restore the health of your smile.

If you’ve only slightly chipped a tooth and it doesn’t hurt, is this cause for a dental emergency?

In a word no!

If you’re not in pain, while it does need to be dealt with sooner rather than later, it can and should wait until the next available appointment with the dentist.

In the meantime however, do ensure that extra care is taken when chewing so you don’t chip the tooth any further. Then at your appointment, we’ll usually be able to smooth the chip over or add some filling material in order to repair the tooth.

While that’s pretty straight forward, what if you’ve badly cracked or fractured a tooth?

This is more serious, especially if you have pain and would normally be classed as a dental emergency. Call us right away so we can help prevent the tooth getting any worse or infected.

What causes cracked teeth?

Although enamel (which covers the surface of our teeth) is the strongest tissue in our body, it has its limits and can still be broken or cracked. Cracked teeth can happen for a number of reasons including playing contact sports and not wearing a mouth guard, or being involved in an accident that caused an unexpected hit to your mouth.

It can also be caused by habits such as clenching and grinding your teeth or chewing and biting down on hard objects. Lastly, if decay is left untreated, this can weaken the teeth, leaving them more prone to breaking.

Did you know that our back teeth (called molars) are more vulnerable to cracks because they tend to absorb most of the force while we chew?

How do I know if I’ve cracked a tooth?

Dealing with cracked teeth can be difficult, due to a variety of symptoms. Typically, a cracked tooth will cause erratic pain upon chewing, with biting pressure or when exposed to extreme temperatures such as a hot drink or an ice cream. A lot of the time, patients find that the pain comes and go’s and this can make it a little more difficult to pinpoint the exact tooth causing the discomfort. A cracked tooth is often unnoticeable to the human eye and can at times not even appear visible on dental x-rays.

A cracked tooth can be painful because every time you bite, the pressure causes the crack to open a little and this irritates the pulp of the tooth. This is where the nerves and blood vessels are contained. When this happens, the tooth may then become sensitive to extreme temperatures, cause a sharp pain when biting and if left, possibly even become infected.

So what exactly does cracked teeth treatment involve?

Cracked teeth treatment

Because there’s many different types of cracked teeth, the treatment and success for your tooth all really depend of the location, type and extent of the crack. Here’s a few common examples of cracked teeth problems and how we treat them:

– A fractured cusp – when a piece of your tooth’s biting surface breaks off (which often happens around a filling) it’s known as a fractured cusp. This rarely damages the nerves inside the tooth, so generally doesn’t cause much pain. In this case, we’ll place a filling and/or possibly place a crown over the tooth in order to protect it from future fractures.

– A cracked tooth – this means that the crack extends vertically down toward the root of your tooth. If left untreated, the crack may gradually spread further. This is why early diagnosis is really important for the best chance at saving your tooth. If the crack extends down into the tooth’s nerve then we’ll perform root canal treatment and cap the tooth with a crown to help protect the crack spreading any deeper. Worst case scenario is that the crack extends down below the gum line. When this happens, the tooth is not treatable and would need to be extracted. This again emphasises the need for early treatment.

– A split tooth – is quite often caused due to the progression of a cracked tooth that’s been left untreated. This means the tooth has a crack with segments that can be separated. At this point, the whole tooth can’t be saved intact but depending on the extent and position of the crack, it may be possible to save a portion of the tooth. In most cases root canal treatment will need to be carried out too.

– A vertical root fracture – is a crack that starts at the root of your tooth and extends towards the biting surface. These don’t present many obvious warning signs or symptoms so may go unnoticed for a long time but are often discovered when the bone or gum surrounding the tooth becomes infected. At this stage, treatment is generally a tooth extraction, although in some cases it’s possible to save a portion of the tooth with root canal, removing the fractured part.

Top tips to avoid cracking a tooth

Although it’s impossible to completely prevent a chipped, broken or cracked tooth, there are some steps you can take in order to protect your teeth from damage, such as:

– Avoid chewing on hard foods or objects such as pens, ice or boiled sweets-
– Try not to grind and clench your teeth
– Always wear a mouth guard when playing contact sports
– Don’t use your teeth to open bottles

Often dental emergencies can be easily avoided by having regular check-ups to help keep your mouth healthy and avoid problems such as cracked teeth. Treatment can range from just a simple filling to a tooth extraction, but whatever the case it’s important we see you straight away in order to have the best chance at saving your tooth.

So if you’re experiencing any pain or symptoms associated with cracked teeth call us straight away on 0161 485 7376 and we’d be happy to see you for an emergency appointment.

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