If you have a broken tooth, we recommend seeing a professional dentist as soon as possible. Broken teeth can pose a serious threat to your oral health, depending on the type of fracture that occurs. And at Sonora Dentist, we offer emergency dentistry for patients in need. Contact us as soon as possible, and we will do our best to accommodate your situation. In most cases, we can see emergency patients the same day to provide pain relief and treatment. If you’re dealing with a broken tooth, visit our office in Sonora, CA!
Common Causes of a Broken Tooth
Your tooth generally has 4 layers.
The innermost is the pulp chamber, housing sensitive dental pulp. The next layer up is the cementum, which is a hard, bone-like material that covers the roots of your teeth. After that is dentin, which makes up most of your tooth’s structure. Finally, your enamel covers the entirety of the tooth, offering protection against bacteria and daily wear.
Enamel is actually the hardest substance in the human body! However, that doesn’t make it immune to outside damage. Dental trauma can affect your enamel, causing cracks, chips, and, in the worst cases, broken teeth.
Common causes of broken teeth include:
Car accidents- Sports injuries
- Using your teeth as tools
- Teeth grinding
- Biting into hard foods
- Tooth decay
Car accidentsWhen your tooth breaks, it exposes the more vulnerable parts of your teeth. Without enamel protection, dentin may cause intense sensitivity, and your dental pulp can become infected, leading to severe pain.
Regardless of your pain level, we encourage anyone with a broken tooth to visit an emergency dentist. With the proper treatment, we help prevent infections and keep your smile healthy and happy.
How We Treat Broken Teeth
There are three main kinds of broken teeth,
1. The least serious is a fractured tooth, as the break doesn’t reach the root of your tooth. More likely, a part of your crown was cracked or even came off, exposing your dentin.
Typically, we treat fractured teeth with dental bonding or a crown, depending on the severity of the break. Bonding is made of composite resin that we apply to the tooth and harden. A dental crown covers the tooth in its entirety, fortifying its structure and protecting it from further harm.
2. The second type of broken tooth is a cracked tooth. A cracked tooth has a vertical split that doesn’t quite reach the roots, keeping the tooth intact.
To treat cracked teeth, we’ll usually use a dental crown. At Sonora Dentist, we use high-quality zirconia, a highly durable material. Using state-of-the-art design technology, we customize and fabricate your crown to look natural in your mouth.
3. The last kind of broken tooth is a split tooth. Split teeth are, as you may expect, completely split, breaking the tooth into separate parts.
Sonora dentist always tries to save your natural teeth first. But in most cases, a split tooth cannot be saved by a dental crown. Instead, we’ll need to fully remove it.
Fortunately, we perform safe and effective tooth extractions routinely. We will carefully remove each portion of the tooth and make sure to clean out any debris or bacteria in the empty socket.
Additionally, once you remove a tooth, we’ll look into replacing it! For most patients, we recommend using a dental implant to replace missing teeth. At our office, we use mini dental implants, which are smaller and more affordable than other implant types.
Broken Tooth? Visit an Emergency Dentist in Sonora, CA!
Broken teeth need immediate attention, as they can put your oral health at risk. If you have a broken tooth, we recommend reaching out to an emergency dentist. And for those in pain or in need of immediate treatment, we may even be able to fit you in for a same day appointment! At Sonora Dentist, we can use a few different procedures to save a broken tooth, depending on the type of break. And if necessary, we’ll remove your tooth and replace it with an implant-supported crown that fills the gap in your smile.
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for more information about dental crown treatment.
