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Cracked teeth are often detected through a number of differing symptoms.
Some people feel pain when they bite down while chewing. Others experience pain when bite pressure is relieved. At other times, people feel pain in their teeth when drinking something like tea, which is very cold, or coffee, which is very hot. Often too this pain comes and goes, and because it is only intermittent, may lead the person experiencing it to falsely conclude that the problem—whatever it may be—is only minor.
Assumptions get us all into trouble like this. Cracked teeth are no exceptions. The person that suspects he or she has this condition needs to get to a dentist as soon as possible. The pain that is felt is present because the tooth surface beneath the crack is flexing. Over time, if nothing is done, the entire tooth will become unstable and may fracture to the point that a large portion of it comes off.
When people realize that something is wrong, they immediately begin to prioritize dental treatment in relation to other pressing concerns of their schedule.
Many times they will call into the office and ask just how long they can wait before coming in. Such a strategy seldom gets the person the answer they want to hear. Doctors are not the type of people who hold back on worst case scenario speculations when they are directly questioned about their possibility. This is not because doctors are mean people. Doctors are concerned people who do not want patients to take foolish risks or make costly miscalculations about the severity of conditions like cracked teeth that can only harm them more in the long run.
Delayed treatment of a cracked tooth only allows more time for cracks to work their way down to tooth roots. After this occurs, the root dies, and a root canal ends up being necessary. Should the crack develop into a split tooth, the entire tooth ultimately has to be replaced. Otherwise, the tooth will have to be crowned because part of its surface has been ruptured or may have broken away.
If you act promptly, however, a good many cracked teeth can be repaired with cosmetic dental bonding.
Most cracked teeth that hurt will need to be crowned. Occasionally, small cracks can be fixed with fillings.
While no cosmetic dentist can guarantee with absolute certainty that a cracked tooth can be repaired with bonding or crowns without first looking at it, it is certainly not going to happen past a certain point when the crack works its way down to the pulp chamber and actually starts killing the tooth.
Such a scenario means that a root canal has now become imminent.
Cracked teeth do not always hurt
Often, old cracks run parallel to the length of teeth and are painless. These surface cracks do not even break through the enamel. Very shallow cracks of this type are called craze lines, are barely visible, and not at all severe. They are part of the normal aging process and typically do not cause problems that require treatment.
The cracks that cause noticeable pain are the ones that people need to worry about. Such cracks work their way down into the dentin layer of the tooth is going to cause pain. Because the dentin layer lies immediately next to the nerve center of the tooth, the pulp chamber is the next thing to go.
When a person begins to experience constant pain, there is a good chance that the nerve has been affected and that a root canal has become necessary to treat the problem. This does not mean that the tooth cannot be saved, however. Cosmetic dental porcelain crowns can make such teeth as good as new, and are the preferred remedy for cracked teeth among cosmetic dentists who seek not only a medical solution to the problem, but also an aesthetic one as well.
Cosmetic Dentistry is a specialized field that requires extensive knowledge and experience to be done correctly. The Medical Center Dental Group in Houston, Texas brings all of that and more to the direct benefit of each and every patient we treat. Although we are located in the world famous Houston Medical Center at Scurlock Towers, we routinely see dental patients who travel from Austin, San Antonio, Dallas, Beaumont and Midland Texas to see Dr Dale Brant or Dr. Charles Campbell for their cosmetic denistry services.
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