How do you know if your tooth is cracked and can it be saved?

Answer 1

I'm a dentist.

Cracked teeth can be a little tricky to diagnose, but if your doctor is meticulous about it, he.she will find the tooth.

Your teeth contain a pulp, which consists of blood vessels, lymphatic tissue, connective tissue, various cells (ranging from tooth-specific cells to all of the immune cells immune cells normally found in your body with the exception of mast cells), and of course, nerve tissue.

Unlike the rest of your body, the nervous tissue inside your tooth consists only of pain receptors. If someone were to touch you on your arm gently, the nerves that sense pressure would transmit to your brain the information of a soft touch. In contrast, if someone were to touch you gently on the nerve of your tooth, you'd scream bloody murder. Any stimulus, be it touch, temperature, vibration, pressure, to the nerve of the tooth results in pain.

So why, you might ask, don't we experience constant pain from all of our teeth? Simple, because under normal circumstances, the stimulus is not enough for us to characterize it as pain. Our pulp is protected with as much as 1/2 centimeter of dentin and another layer of dense enamel. Drill a hole in the tooth so that the protective layer is thinner, and you'll hurt when the tooth gets cold.

A cracked tooth is a tooth with a hairline split, usually down the middle. Your tooth, believe it or not, is slightly flexible, and when you bite on one side of the fracture line, the tooth will flex open. When you release the bite, the tooth will pull itself back together. This opening and closing serves as a stimulus for the nerve, and as I mentioned above, any stimulus to the nerves inside a tooth are sent to your brain as pain. In fact, what people with a cracked tooth will frequently notice is that the pain is sensed only at the instant when they bite and the instant when they release the bite (because these are the times that movement is occurring around the pulp), and not inbetween these events.

Cracked teeth are also typically sensitive to cold stimuli. Even though the teeth may appear completely normal on the surface, the repeated opening and closing of the crack often causes varying degrees of hyperemia (increased blood flow) and inflammation of the pulp, which makes it hypersensitive to otherwise non-injurious stimuli (such as that from ice water). We call this hyperalgesia. Also, the crack can serve as a direct path for pathogens to reach the pulp itself. These pathogens can infect the pulp, causing the same condition.

Cracked teeth are associated with large amalgam restorations, but can (and do) occur with small amalgams or even composites. Remember, fillings do not strengthen teeth. They invariably weaken them, and amalgams do so more because they are not in any way glued to the tooth. They simply fill a void, unlike composites, which are glued.

The treatment for a cracked tooth is anything that covers the cusps of the tooth. Usually a crown or an onlay. These prostheses essentially prevent the tooth from flexing open and closed as you bite. Over time, the pulp will usually heal and no longer be hypersensitive. Keep in mind, though, that not all cracked teeth can be fixed. It's up to your doctor to determine whether or not yours can be saved.

Sometimes, however, the pulp doesn't heal and the tooth ultimately needs a root canal after the crown is placed (which is done through the crown). It is important for your doctor to evaluate the condition of your tooth's pulp prior to placing the crown. If there are signs of irreversible pulpitis or pulpal necrosis, the root canal should be performed prior to preparing the tooth for the crown (it's better to not have a hole in the top of your crown, obviously).

Answer 2

If the cavity is too deep and infection has reached to the pulp,you need Root Canal Treatment followed by restoration of the tooth by artificial crown.As the tooth is cracked,there are chances that the available crown is not enough to support the artificial crown.In that case the best way is to extract the tooth & prepare a 3 tooth bridge with the support of to adjacent teeth.Take ur dentists opinion.

Answer 3

Nebula gave you an accurate and comprehensive answer. Here's the short version.

If the tooth is cracked from the top of the tooth straight up or down to someplace near the end of the roots, it's a goner. If it is cracked in an oblique fashion with the crack ending somewhere near the edge of the gums, it can probably be saved.

See your dentist for proper diagnosis and treatment recommendation.

Answer 4

You really cant know for sure unless you see a dentist. If the tooth is cracked, it depend on how far it is cracked. If it fractured into the root, then it cant be saved. If it is fractured on the crown (visible portion) then a crown can usually be done to save the tooth.
Best to see a dentist. They have different ways to test the tooth to see if it is fractured, even if you cant visibly see the fracture.

Answer 5

Besides an x-ray another way to tell if the tooth may be fractured is to have the patient bite on what is called a "bite stick", it is a hard plastic stick that when placed in the mouth under/over the tooth in question, the force of biting on the stick will be painful. Other than that you will have to have an x-ray, and yes teeth with fractures can sometimes be saved!!

Answer 6

I agree with Jennifer B on everything she said..and to add...

when you bite on the tooth does it hurt more when you bite or clench down initially or when you release (or unclench)? if it hurts more when you clench, you might have an underlying infection. If you hurt more on release, that is a classic sign of a cracked tooth.

Hope you see a dentist soon! good luck!

Answer 7

Let a dentist look at it without delay. If you wait too long, the cracked tooth will break and you will have to have extraction.

Answer 8

By seeing a dentist and having a professional look at it and telling you.

Answer 9

Has the remote possibility of going to the dentist occured to you for an evaluation???? DUH!!!!