Cracked Teeth

How Do We Chip or Crack Our Teeth?

Enamel, which covers the teeth and is the hardest substance in the human body, has its limits. Chewing on hard candy or ice, biting down too hard, receiving a blow to the face, or grinding your teeth in your sleep could all cause a tooth to chip or crack. Poor hygiene and cavities can also weaken our teeth and make them more susceptible to being chipped or cracked.

A chip or crack might be painless if the damage isn’t severe enough to expose the inner layers. If it’s only in the enamel, a crack might not be noticeable except when biting down hard or when the temperature in your mouth changes. Some cracks aren’t visible to the naked eye. This is why it’s so important to schedule regular appointments with one of our dentists; they will be able to identify problems before they become painful.

What Types of Broken or Chipped Teeth Would Our Dentists Recommend Fixing?

Craze lines are tiny cracks in teeth. These types of cracks only affect the outer layer of the enamel. They’re very common in adults. They are extremely shallow and they don’t cause pain. Although they are not cosmetically pleasing, they’re not dangerous and do not require treatment.

A fractured cusp is a crack at the point of a tooth on the chewing surface. A cusp can become weakened and either break off on its own or may need to be removed by Town Dental. Removing it relieves the pain in most cases. Fractured cusps rarely damage the pulp, so root canal treatment is usually not necessary. To repair the tooth back to normal, our dentists may recommend a crown.

With cracked teeth, some cracks extend all the way from the chewing surface down into the root of the tooth. Depending on the position of the crack, it might damage the pulp. In many cases, our dentists will recommend root canal treatment to fix a cracked tooth.

A split tooth happens when a tooth is cracked and, over time, the crack progresses until the tooth eventually splits into two separate parts. Depending on the gravity of the split, the dentist may not be able to save the tooth intact. Depending on the position and extent of the crack, we will determine whether part of the tooth can be saved with a crown or another restorative procedure.