Your teeth tend to experience lots of wear and tear as you use them every day. Whether by taking part in sports or chewing hard foods, your teeth can sustain damage through a crack. Thankfully, just because you saw a small crack on your tooth does not necessarily mean it’s seriously damaged. There are different types of cracks, and your cosmetic dentist in Columbia, SC, will determine the appropriate treatment for your tooth depending on the type of crack it suffers from. Read on to learn more about the different kinds of teeth cracks:
Craze Lines
Craze lines are hairline structures found in the enamel’s outside. These shallow, vertical tooth cracks usually appear in your front tooth. Craze lines are usually painless; however, they can ruin your smile. Thus, you should see a dentist to renew the look of your teeth. Porcelain veneers are a common treatment for craze lines.
Fractured Cusp
Excessive force from teeth clenching or grinding and serious tooth decay can result in a fractured cusp. Such tooth damage can occur when a piece of the surface of your tooth breaks off, often because your enamel has weakened. This fracture can occur in the bottom and top back of your molars.
Typically, fractured cusps lead to discomfort. You may suffer from tooth sensitivity, pain from chewing or biting, and gum irritation.
Cracked Tooth
A cracked tooth is when an incomplete fracture occurs, originating from the tooth’s surface and penetrating toward the root. Your tooth can crack when you bite down on hard objects or forcefully clench your jaw. If the crack on your tooth extends towards the root, it can lead to root pathosis.
Vertical Root Fracture
This is when a crack on the tooth extends from the root to the surface. This damage starts below a tooth’s visible surface. As a result, it is usually noticed only when an infection occurs in the surrounding gums. Often, addressing this problem involves extracting the damaged tooth and replacing it with a dental implant. But sometimes, a root resection may be done to get rid of the fractured root.
Split Root
This type of tooth damage can happen if a cracked tooth has become untreatable. This can happen the fracture separates from each other. Your dentist will treat this by extracting the affected tooth and replacing it with an implant. A dental implant will fuse with your jawbone, offering a full replacement for the split root.
Comments are closed.