Having a dental emergency can be a very stressful experience. There’s never a convenient time for one, and it can be difficult to know what to do when you are dealing with pain. There are many ways to chip your tooth.
Whether you munched down on something that was a little bit too hard or endured a blow to the face during a sports practice, a dental injury is possible. The good news is that you won’t be left with a chipped tooth in Frisco for the rest of your life. Continue reading to learn more from your emergency dentist about symptoms, how to respond, and treatment options.
What Are Symptoms of a Chipped Tooth?
It is usually easy to tell if you have chipped a tooth. Here are some of the most common symptoms:
- Sensitivity to hot and/or cold foods and drinks.
- Pain when biting down or putting pressure on your tooth.
- Tongue irritation from rubbing it against the tooth’s surface.
- Rough, uneven, or jagged edge on the chewing surface of your tooth.
What Should I Do Right After Chipping a Tooth?
You should act right away if you chip a tooth. The sooner that you can get treatment from your dentist, the better. Here are the steps that you need to take if it happens to you:
- Find the missing piece of your tooth if you can. Keep it in either saliva or milk as you bring it to the dentist.
- Protect the soft tissues in your mouth from rough or jagged edges with dental wax, a teabag, or another material.
- If you are experiencing pain, take an over-the-counter pain reliever.
- Only consume soft foods.
- Call your dentist to make an urgent appointment.
What Are My Treatment Options for a Chipped Tooth?
There are a few different ways your dentist can fix your tooth depending on the severity:
- Porcelain Veneer: If the broken tooth is in the front of the mouth or another highly visible spot, a porcelain veneer is an excellent option to restore your smile.
- Dental Crown: When a larger piece of the tooth breaks off, there isn’t enough of the tooth’s structure left to fill with a dental filling. In cases like these, a dental crown will be used to cap the tooth to protect the sensitive nerves underneath.
- Dental Bonding: If you have a noticeable chip but it isn’t causing any damage to the health of your smile, dental bonding is a great option. It’s affordable and will restore the broken part of your tooth.
- Dental Filling: If only a small piece of your tooth has broken off, a tooth filling is often enough to repair the damage. The hole is filled with a composite resin that hardens and protects the tooth.
- Dental Implant: Dental implants are quickly becoming the preferred option to replace a missing tooth because they look, feel, and act just like natural teeth. If your tooth has come away completely or needs to be extracted, a dental implant is an excellent treatment option.
- Dental Bridge: Another option for patients who need to have a tooth extracted due to damage is a dental bridge. It involves using two abutment teeth to anchor a false tooth to fill in the gap created by the missing tooth.
Chipping a tooth can be stressful but getting help right away from your emergency dentist in Frisco is a crucial move to save your smile!
About the Practice
At Stonebriar Smile Design, we have four dentists with one common goal – to give our patients the chance to enjoy beautiful smiles along with healthy bodies for years to come. To that end, we work alongside other physicians to manage your overall health and well-being, and we have strived to ensure that our team is as highly trained as possible. If you have chipped a tooth, we offer all the treatments discussed in this blog post. Contact us as soon as possible on our website or by calling (469) 361-0081 and we’ll get to work on your tooth.
