Cracked tooth, craze line, vertical root fracture?

Wheaton cosmetic dentist Bryan Bauer

Craze line – differentiated from cracks via trans-illumination
Fractured cusp
Cracked tooth – differentiated from last two via wedge test.

  1. The long-term prognosis for a cracked tooth is better when no crack is visible or the crack does not extend to the chamberfloor and the tooth is rendered pain free by banding or the placement of a temporary crown.
  2. One 2006 study evaluated a small number (n=50) of root-filled cracked teeth with a diagnosis of irreversible pulpitis and determined a two-year survival rate of 85.5 percent. This study indicated that the only significant prognostic factors were teeth with multiple cracks, terminal teeth in the arch and pre-root filling pocketing.

Split tooth

Vertical root fracture

A vertical root fracture will hurt when biting and tuypically will have a deeper probing score in the are of the fracture.

Picture of a vertical root fracture on a premolar

Oblique root fracture

The oblique root fracture is kind of a mix of the vertical and the horizontal fractures.

CBCT showing a oblique root fracture

Horizontal root fracture

We have a separate page on horizontal root fractures.

AAE source