What to do with a cracked tooth?

Question

I cracked my tooth when i bit a piece of metal from my clothing. my tooth does not hurt or anything its just cracked. does this tooth have to be replaced?

Answer 1

You will eventually need to see a dentist. Whether the tooth hurts or not, the cracked tooth often will have a tiny abscess down in the base (unless the crack is in the very top of the tooth only). In many cases the tooth will not hurt from the abscess immediately but as time goes by it will continue to develop and eventually become a big problem.

If you are not keen on going to the dentist now, stock up on pain killers and perhaps see your local doctor if you need antibiotics (often the doctor will be cheaper to see but they won't pull the tooth or anything - just give you pain relief and antibiotics if you need it).

You should make an appointment with your dentist well before the tooth becomes an excruciating pain, because dentists almost always have a long waiting list of a few weeks. Nobody can be sure when the abscess will flare up and cause terrible pain - it may be months or even years (2 years in the case of one of my molars - cracked and the filling fell out). At the first sign of pain book to see the dentist and start taking the pain killers and antibiotics.

Answer 2

If the tooth is cracked it will need to have a filling put in it to keep it from getting decay. It the crack is deep or close to your nerve you could end up needing to have a Root canal and/or crown. Do NOT wait until the tooth starts to hurt or the later option will be your only unless you just want to have it extracted.

Answer 3

yes it does have to be replaced...make sure you put the old one under your pillow for the tooth fairy!

Answer 4

Yes. Then sell the broken bit on eBay.