The most common causes of tooth fractures are: Age, with many tooth cracks happening at age 50 and older. Biting hard foods, such as candy, ice or popcorn kernels. Habits, such as gum chewing, ice chewing.
So, if your teeth are prone to breaking, it might be due to one of the following causes. Grinding and Clenching Teeth: These habits wear away dental enamel. Poor Oral Care: Decay, cavities, lack of pulp – all can result in brittle teeth due to: Inadequate brushing, which eventually destroys the tooth pulp.
Vitamin D plays a key role in bone and tooth mineralization, and when levels are unregulated it can lead to the “rachitic tooth”, which is a defective and hypomineralized organ highly susceptible to fracture and decay [35,36].
Medical Conditions: Some health concerns can lead to weak, brittle teeth, including osteoporosis, eating disorders, and gastroesophageal acid reflux disease (GERD).
When someone experiences a severe crack in one of their teeth, there are two options for repair – undergoing a root canal or having the cracked tooth extracted from the mouth. Root canal therapy is necessary when the crack is so severe that it reaches the pulp of the tooth.
A split tooth cannot be saved intact. The position and extent of the crack, however, will determine whether any portion of the tooth can be saved. In some cases, endodontic treatment may be performed to save a portion of the tooth.
If a crack can be detected, use wedging to test for movement of the segments to differentiate a cracked tooth from a fractured cusp or split tooth. No movement with wedging forces implies a cracked tooth.
Ideally, patients should schedule a visit to have the cracked tooth treated within a few days after the crack occurs and no more than two weeks after the incident. If symptoms begin to worsen, an emergency visit to the dentist for immediate care is most likely necessary.
When a tooth is cracked, the cracked tooth will most likely need to be pulled to prevent infection from developing in the crack. However, if the crack is small and does not go down to the root of the tooth, a filling may be able to be used to fix the problem.
The most significant complications of a cracked tooth affect you are infections spreading to the bone and gums. In addition, you can develop a dental abscess causing fever, swollen gums, sensitivity to temperatures, pain when eating, and tender glands in the neck.
If you break or chip a tooth, one of the possibilities is that you only damage the enamel layer. This means that you might not compromise the dentin layer, which protects the sensitive pulp. In that case, it's possible not to feel pain or only feel a mild toothache.
If a tiny portion of your tooth is broken, the dentist might recommend protecting the remaining portion of the tooth with dental fillings or a dental crown. If you have a severe fracture, the dentist offers endodontic surgery to eliminate the fractured portion to protect the dental pulp in the tooth.
If they are not treated, cracked teeth can lead to the death of the nerve, and an abscess might grow. The tooth could need root canal treatment or even taking out. In severe cases the tooth can actually split in two. If this happens your dentist will not be able to save the tooth and it will need to be taken out.
Don't Eat or Drink Unless Necessary
Eating and drinking can cause more pain when your tooth is cracked or broken. So you'll want to avoid eating and drinking if possible. If you can't get your tooth fixed for another day and a half, you'll likely have to eat and drink something before then.
A chipped or broken tooth is not necessarily a dental emergency unless the patient is in severe pain or bleeding. However, it is important to contact a dentist immediately after the incident for an appointment. It is advisable to check the extent of the damage, whether it is a partial chip or full breakage.
If the break is relatively minor and the edges are still intact, your dentist may be able to bond the broken pieces back together. If the damage is more severe, they may need to use a dental crown or filling material to cover the break.
Stress can cause problems for your mouth, teeth and gums from teeth grinding and clenching, leading to broken and damaged teeth, headaches, neck and jaw pain and a host of other problems.
Lack of vitamin D can lead to dental caries, and weak or brittle teeth that easily break, chip, and crack. A controlled study made up of 2,827 children found a reduction of 47% in cavities of the children who received vitamin D supplements.