Cracked Tooth Treatment Billings MT

Consider these symptoms of tooth pain. You bite down and there’s a searing pain in your tooth that radiates into your jaw. The pain is intense and doesn’t seem to be localized to any particular area. It hurts to chew or to bite, however, when you stop chewing or biting, the pain is instantly gone.  The answer is a common: a cracked tooth. There are many different things that can cause a tooth to crack.

The obvious ones are chewing hard foods and ice, grinding one’s teeth, or accidental damage to the tooth by a blow to the mouth.  However, there are also less conspicuous reasons, such as an uneven chewing pressure from a damage to the jaw area, or a bite that’s out of alignment.

When a person’s teeth have undergone massive restorative work, some teeth are supported only by this restorative work, i.e. large fillings.  When a tooth’s enamel is exposed to two different temperature extremes, like exposing the teeth to something extremely hot and then follow it by drinking something extremely cold.

Cracked Tooth Treatment Billings MT

A cracked tooth hurts because pressures applied to the teeth open the tooth. When the tooth opens, the nerve tissue under the tooth is irritated.  This area below the tooth is called the pulp.  The pulp is just soft tissue that contains the blood vessels and nerves.  If the pulp becomes damaged, it is necessary to perform a treatment similar to that of a root canal.

One problem identifying a cracked tooth, is that the line of fracture is often invisible to the human eye.  It may be so small that it doesn’t even end up showing on a X-Ray.  Once the crack is located, the treatments for it can vary depending upon the severity of the crack.  A tooth that is only slightly cracked, may only need to be bonded. While a large-scale fracture to a tooth may need to be filled—a treatment similar to a root canal.

It’s important to go in for regular checkups with your dentist, because cracks like these can get worse, and degrade the structure of the affected tooth overtime.  Contact Brian Francis DMD for all of your dental needs.