Tooth Injuries 

21/02/2023

Tooth injury can be caused by a force conveyed by an external factor like a ball or falling down the stairs. Furthermore, chewing dry foods like almonds, peanuts and walnuts can cause minor tooth injuries and graze lines on the teeth. Minor tooth injuries are characterised only by distorted enamel or small chips, while more-serious tooth injuries involve a broken tooth with the root uplifted. Whether you have a crack in your tooth or a major chip, it should be treated as soon as possible by your local dentist. 

What Impact do Tooth Injuries Have? 

An injured tooth can have a major impact on the day-to-day routine a person is able to enjoy. Generally, front teeth are more susceptible to injury than back teeth. Force applied to the front teeth can cause them to crack and chip and this can make smiling difficult, unappealing or straight-out painful. In addition to this, an injured tooth can result in pain being experienced while eating or drinking. There are a range of other symptoms of tooth injury which can be present following an incident. These include: 

  • Tooth sensitivity, 
  • Irregular pain, 
  • Gum swelling, 
  • Chewing difficulty, 
  • Cavities. 

What is the Best Treatment for an Injured Tooth? 

There is a range of treatments for injured teeth which vary in appropriateness depending on the severity of the injury: 

  • Small cracks, for instance, can be repaired by using a bonding agent – usually a tooth-coloured composite resin.  
  • If a tooth injury has not damaged the root of a tooth, but is too pronounced for a bonding agent to be effective, then a porcelain dental crown may be applied to cover the cracked tooth. 
  • If a horizontal crack has appeared in a front tooth, then neither a bonding agent nor dental crown will be appropriate for treatment. In these cases, a dental veneer can be applied. The tooth will be covered with a sheath which makes the crack imperceivable. 
  • If a tooth injury has damaged the root of a tooth then a root canal may be necessary to repair any sub-structural damage before a crown is applied. 
  • Similarly, if a tooth injury has severely cracked the tooth, then a dental implant may be needed to repair the damage. A dental implant requires extraction of the broken tooth before an artificial implant is affixed to the jawbone to take its place. 
  • If none of these methods are deemed appropriate to use by your local dental professional, then a tooth extraction may be required to ensure that damage suffered by an injured tooth does not progress to affect the gum and other mouth tissues. 

Contact Campsie Laser Dental 

Contact our friendly staff if you experience a tooth injury and you need treatment. Campsie Laser Dental is open for business Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 6:00pm. Call today on (02) 9789 6219.