Your teeth play an important role, especially when it comes to tearing and grinding up food. However, many tooth concerns can cause damage to your teeth. While some damage is only mildly annoying, some damage can lead to tooth loss. If you would like to learn more, check out these common tooth concerns and how to treat them.
1. Tooth Decay
Ideally, your tooth's enamel should protect the underlying tooth tissue from bacteria that causes decay. However, brushing too hard, allowing plaque and tartar to build, consuming sugary or acidic foods and beverages, and grinding teeth wear down enamel, increasing the risk of tooth decay.
At first, a cavity may be small and have little to no symptoms, but treating a cavity early is imperative. During treatment, the dentist removes the dead tissue and replaces it with a filling. In many cases, you may not even need sedation services.
Without treatment, a cavity can spread, compromising the entire structure of the tooth. At this point, a filling may still be enough, but big cavities may further worsen the structural integrity. Therefore, the dentist may recommend using a dental crown to repair the tooth.
If the cavity reaches the tooth's pulp, an abscess may develop. An abscess puts pressure on surrounding teeth, which can cause mild to severe pain. The pus inside the abscess may also cause bad breath and an unpleasant taste. Treatment consists of extraction or root canal therapy to remove the dead pulp.
2. Broken Tooth
Teeth can break for many reasons. Severe decay or big cavities can weaken teeth enough for them to shatter when you're eating or grinding your teeth. Teeth grinding alone can cause small chips to appear. However, even if your teeth are healthy and you don't suffer from bruxism, your teeth can be damaged from blunt force trauma during sports, accidents, or other activities.
The treatment for a broken tooth depends on the severity of the break. For people who have minor chips from grinding, composite resin can rebuild the tooth with tooth-colored material. For bigger breaks, a crown may be necessary to prevent future damage.
If most of the tooth's crown has been lost, the dentist may be able to rebuild the tooth with a post and core procedure. During the procedure, the dentist places a small dental post inside the tooth. This becomes the foundation on which the tooth is rebuilt.
This procedure may not be a good idea for molars because of how much pressure they experience. It is usually fine for front teeth or premolars. If too much tissue has been lost, however, an extraction may be the best option to prevent future problems and pain.
3. Tooth Discoloration
Tooth discoloration is another common problem, and there may be more than one reason your smile looks less bright and white. In general, teeth stains are either extrinsic or intrinsic.
Extrinsic stains are the easiest to treat, and they are caused by consuming stain-causing foods, beverages, or substances. This includes soda, coffee, red wine, berries, and tobacco. Treatment involves teeth-whitening procedures, such as in-office or at-home teeth whitening to bleach the stains, but the stains will return if you continue to consume the stain-causing substances.
Intrinsic stains are caused by something inside the body or teeth. These are commonly associated with trauma. In many cases, these types of stains don't respond well to teeth-whitening. Instead, your dentist may recommend covering up the discolored tooth with bonding or veneers.
Your teeth have a lot of roles. Not only do they help take bites, but they also grind up food and help you speak properly. For this reason, it's imperative to care for smile. If you are ready for a checkup, or if you need treatment for a more serious problem,
contact us
at Advanced Dental Care today.
