Piece of front tooth broke off
Piece of front tooth broke off? or Piece of front tooth fell off?
Piece of front tooth broke off? Well you are not alone and we hear this story from time to time, “A tiny piece of my front tooth chipped off.” during a phone call. Or worse, someone calls very upset and anxious yelling a piece of front tooth broke off!” We can fix it!
Whether a piece of front tooth broke off or a piece of front tooth fell off we can fix it!
When a piece of front tooth breaks off it can be quiet alarming. We often get a frantic phone call from a mother that their child has broken a front tooth. This is not as bad as when a front tooth gets knocked out but it is still a very alarming event. The good news is that we can easily fix the broken tooth.
How do we fix the tooth when a piece of front tooth broke off?
If you bring us the piece of tooth AND it was actually your tooth and not just a piece of filling then we can rebond it. You can see this in both of the before and after pictures of patients the broke their front tooth. There are two stipulations where this is not possible. First of all this needs to be broken off from trauma and not broken because there is decay. Secondly it must actually be your tooth and not some old bonding composite.
Here you can see us fitting the piece of tooth back together.
- We etch the tooth and the broken piece of tooth.
- We place bonding agent on both the tooth and the broken piece of tooth.
- Next we might add a small layer of composite and then reposition the pieces like a puzzle.
- Finally the dentist cures the entire area.
So how do we fix the tooth when a piece of front tooth fell off and you do not have it?
We simply do a composite filling in the area, as long the chip is not too large, requiring a crown. If it is more like the entire tooth that breaks away then we may do something like SET.
A small piece of front tooth chipped off – what is the cost to fix?
Fortunately it is fairly cheap, for dentistry anyway, as long as the piece is not so big that it requires a crown or dental veneer. The fee will vary from office to office but you can find the approximate cost on fair health consumer.
Our patient broke a piece of his front tooth off on blacktop. A friend found the piece and we put it back together!
What do we do if you break both front teeth?
As long as you have the pieces of the tooth and the break is not into the nerve, we can bond you back together. We take the pieces and bond them back together like a puzzle.
The photo is very helpful. I have top front teeth with jagged edges like this and, at age 70, they are quite thin on the end. Recently, I thought I was getting a minor bite adjustment on one side tooth. Then, without asking me, the dentist abruptly shaved off the bottom of my top front teeth. He had me look in a mirror and visually the look is good. When I got home and ate lunch, it is clear the functionality is bad when chewing. The ends of the top and bottom front teeth scrape over the top of each other ! The edges are like sand paper. I am seeing a prosthodontist.
Can lengthening teeth like this be simple like above? Or do I learn to live with this by chewing carefully? Or am I probably in for a major bill for some veneers?
No this is probably not the answer you are looking for. Sorry!
A bit more. I had no symptoms. The periodontist said a top middle tooth had no room to move for chewing and he would adjust it, open up some space. Sounded simple, but he ended up filing down teeth on both sides when a “fix” on one side caused an imbalance with the other side, back and forth several times. Now there are functional problems. The teeth are now too short. When lying down to sleep, some inner cheek tissue gets in between the top and bottom teeth, so I can nick and bite this tissue. Both sides. Tilting my head back gives relief. There are more problems, but ….
I now read that adjustments are done to tighten teeth, and when there are missing teeth. One on-line dentist said he never does this to loosen teeth.
Questions. Can composite bonding build up some height in side teeth to help restore them, so they get back to a better place and don’t bite down on tissue? Is there a night time guard that is very slim that can be inserted against the cheek to block tissue from getting between the top /bottom teeth? I used to have a retainer after braces when a teenager, and think a small plastic ridge at the roof of the mouth would provide a block to biting down in my sleep.
Is this fixed by a general dentist or do I need a prostedontist?
I asked this periodontist by letter for a refund, and told him why. His front desk processed the refund, but said a release for me to sign is in the mail. I will not sign that.
Appreciate your feedback on my questions, what you might do if someone walked into your office with this problem where all teeth are shortened. A prostodontist said wait 3 weeks before doing anything to see how the teeth shift in response to the mouth wide adjustment.
Sorry to bother you, but this all worries me.
Thank you for your great blog.