Wife has a chip and a crack running up her front tooth

hamdingers

No previous trauma, but a small chip fell out of my wife's tooth this morning and she has a crack running up it now. No pain at all, but she's kind of freaked out, we are seeing the dentist later today.

Anyone seen this before and know what the dentist might do? We were planning a vacation starting tomorrow and we are worried we won't be able to go.

Thanks!

Cyd Cyclone

I had a chip out of one of my front teeth. Went to the dentist, and he filled it in with whatever the hell they use to fill in teeth with these days. Whole thing only took an hour. No pain, but he didn't have to freeze the area, since the chip wasn't deep enough to hit the nerves.

If the crack is major, however, he might have to pull the tooth. Then it's gapsville, or replacement tooth town, which can take more time.

Solandra

I had a similar chip earlier this year, the dentist cleaned the site with the drill and put an enamel colored filling in the area. Probably going to be similar for your lady, plus a little extra for the split. I'd be very surprised if it changed your vacation plans.

Lord Lycan

I had a crack in one of my molars from biting down on a really hard toffee.

Unfortunately, being somewhat stupid, I didn't go to the dentist for years afterward.

Turns out that even though it didn't hurt, bacteria had gotten in the crack and eaten away at the inside making it all rotten. It was either lots of root canal or removal. I now have a gap.

So, my advice is to get it seen to asap even if its painless.

metaghost

Yep, get it filled! I got a nice chip + crack from biting into a really hard load of bread.

The procedure takes about 20 minutes and cost a little under 100 US without dental insurance.

t_catt11

As a veteran of many dental proceedures, let me urge you to deal with this ASAP. A minor chip or crack can be fixed easily and painlessly. If left untreated, a minor chip can and WILL lead to the loss of the tooth. root canals and crowns are both painful and expensive (even with good dental insurance).

LewieP's Mummy

LewieP's Daddy is facing a tooth implant costing between £2 - 3,000 - he has a crack in one of his canine teeth, and I've said a gap=divorce! It could break at any time, so he's shopping around for a better price than the £3,000 he's been given by our dentist.

Noquar

LewieP's Mummy wrote: »

LewieP's Daddy is facing a tooth implant costing between £2 - 3,000 - he has a crack in one of his canine teeth, and I've said a gap=divorce! It could break at any time, so he's shopping around for a better price than the £3,000 he's been given by our dentist.

Definitely get it checked out. You don't get more real teeth..just expensive fake ones.

LewieP's Mummy - I have to ask, are you serious or being sarcastic about gap=divorce? Don't you know gap teeth is the sign of a passionate person ;p

LaOs

LewieP's Mummy wrote: »

LewieP's Daddy is facing a tooth implant costing between £2 - 3,000 - he has a crack in one of his canine teeth, and I've said a gap=divorce! It could break at any time, so he's shopping around for a better price than the £3,000 he's been given by our dentist.

Have him check at the (any?) local dental college. At the very least, they may have an idea of where to point him to help find a cheaper price, but they should be able to do it cheaper themselves in the teaching clinic. The students who are actually doing the work are good enough (near-enough, anyway) to be dentists (or at least be practicing dentists within a year anyway), and if things go wrong or appear to be going wrong, the Faculty members are there to step in and prevent (or correct) any problems.

The other idea may be to contact the dental association/registrar to see if they have any ideas how you can get treatment yet cope with the high costs.