A Quick Look at Fixing Your Cracked Tooth

Damage to a tooth is a common occurrence, but what it means to your oral health can depend on a number of different factors. If the crack or chip is minor, then it may not pose a significant immediate threat, yet it can grow worse if not treated promptly. If the damage is severe, then it may be at risk of being lost or needing extraction soon, and the tooth itself may be at risk of experiencing even more trouble. No matter how severe, fixing your cracked tooth should always be a priority, and at our office, we can customize a variety of treatments to address your specific concern.

Finding out how bad it is

The first step to fixing your cracked tooth is to determine how severe the fracture is, which will require a comprehensive examination of your teeth. A visual inspection and the use of digital imaging technology (including digital X-rays) can give us an accurate view of your tooth and its fracture to determine how much of the tooth structure it affects. Depending on its severity, we may be able to restore the tooth with a minimally invasive cosmetic enhancement, like cosmetic tooth bonding or a custom-designed porcelain veneer. However, for more extensive fractures, you might require a more comprehensive solution, such as a porcelain dental crown that can completely cap and restore the tooth.

Restoring the tooth’s damage

Whatever the right solution is for fixing your cracked tooth, the main goal is to restore it while minimizing the extent of any alterations to your healthy, natural tooth structure. The point of restoring the tooth is to stop the damage it has incurred from growing any worse, and extensive changes to your tooth structure may make that more difficult. For this reason, cosmetic options like bonding and porcelain veneers are not only popular solutions, but may also be preferable to a crown or other solution due to their minimally invasive treatment processes.

Avoiding future problem with the tooth

In addition to minimizing the extent of your treatment, fixing your cracked tooth should also be designed to help you avoid any more problems with the tooth in the future. For example, if the fracture is bad enough to require a dental crown to fix it, then it may also be severe enough to expose the tooth’s tissues and nerves within its pulp chamber. To avoid trapping oral bacteria within the pulp and risking a severe tooth infection, we might recommend performing root canal therapy before placing the crown over the tooth.

Learn how we can fix your cracked tooth

When a tooth cracks, fixing it should be your top priority. To learn more about your different options for treating your cracked tooth, schedule an appointment by calling Yelena Popkova D.D.S. in Merrimack, NH, today at 603-595-9400. We also serve the residents of Nashua, Hudson, Manchester, Milford, and all surrounding communities.