Broken Tooth Replacement - Reasons | Types | Need | Approach | Alternative
Broken Tooth Replacement
What are some reasons for a broken tooth?
Our teeth are really strong, but with the many stresses and strains that they have to endure, they can chip, crack or break. Some common causes of a broken tooth are eating something hard, an accident, playing sports, cavities causing the tooth to break or other life activities. Having a broken tooth may not in itself hurt depending on the impact of the breakage but when we are chewing or drinking something hot or cold we might feel discomfort or pain in the area.
What are the various types of broken tooth?
Craze lines: Craze lines can be caused by a number of things, from the everyday wear and tear of biting and chomping, to unwise attempts to use teeth as bottle openers. These are tiny cracks that only affect the outer enamel. Craze lines are common for adults. They are shallow, cause no pain, and are of no concern beyond the way they look.
Fractured cusp: A weakened cusp often leads to a fracture. This fracture can be removed by your dentist, or it might break off on its own.
Cracked tooth: A cracked tooth means a crack extends from the chewing surface vertically toward the root. Early diagnosis is important in this case to save the tooth. A cracked tooth left untreated will get worse as time goes by. This will eventually result in a loss of the tooth.
Split tooth: A split tooth is usually the result of a long-term cracked tooth. It is identified by a crack with distinct segments that can be separated. A split tooth cannot be saved intact.
Vertical root fracture: These cracks begin in the root of the tooth and extend toward the chewing surface. Often, they show minimal signs and symptoms. Many times, they are discovered when the surrounding bone and gum become infected
Why is broken tooth replacement necessary?
When we understand that there is some breakage in our tooth, we need to immediately consult our dentist to avoid further deterioration or other problems. A chipped tooth equals a significant loss of tooth structure and can even contribute to new chips in the future and cracks in the enamel over time. If a tooth is chipped deeply enough, the chip could affect the function of the nerve inside your tooth. This can cause you extreme pain or even lead to discoloration of your tooth as the nerve inside dies.
You even lose some ability to chew food properly. This may mean that you either place more stress on the other teeth in order to chew all the food you eat, or you do not chew well enough and what is swallowed is not quite ready to be digested. This can lead to digestive difficulty. You might have to eliminate certain favorite foods because you cannot chew them thoroughly. Hence, it becomes very important to replace the broken tooth.
The traditional approach to replace a broken tooth
In case the teeth can’t be saved, the preferred treatment is to extract and replace the teeth with a permanent implant. The traditional approach to dental implant treatment is to extract the tooth and fabricate the removable appliance. This helps the Patient maintain the space of extraction and the aesthetic look. However, the patient has to wait for a couple of months for the extraction site to heal.
After the healing period, the patient will have the surgical placement of the implant, while continuing to wear the removable appliance for another 3 to 6 months waiting for the implant fusion with the surrounding bone. This process will total about 6 to 8 months of wearing removable appliance and waiting time to have a tooth attached permanently to the implant.
Same Day Broken Tooth Replacement - An alternative to the traditional approach
With modern implant dentistry and a good understanding of modern surgical techniques, patients can have a fixed tooth attached to an implant on the same day the broken tooth is extracted.
CT-Scans made treatment planning for such emergencies very easy and effective. Along with rendering a quality treatment with an excellent clinical result. This also has an advantage over the traditional approach to implant dentistry. When you place implant on the same day after extraction, and have a tooth attached to that implant, that will help in maintaining the shape of the gums connected to that tooth and keeping the papilla (the triangular gum between the teeth) from resorbing and ending with final restoration with dark triangle between the implant tooth and the natural teeth due to the disappearance of papilla.
This treatment is very conservative in nature and far less traumatic than the traditional approach. Patients can resume normal actions and activities on the following day of the extraction and implant surgery. This approach is life changing and provides patients with a whole new world of confidence and happiness. At our dental office, Implants Pro Center, San Francisco, we commit to provide the best ever care to our patients.