You know from firsthand experience that your body can heal many injuries. Cut or scrapped skin will scab over and recover; even broken bones can mend themselves when properly set. However, such self-healing doesn’t apply to a chip in your teeth. An injury like that won’t improve unless you get help from your emergency dentist. To learn more, here’s a summary of why your chip won’t heal itself and why a chipped tooth in Orange Park needs prompt dental treatment.
Will a Chipped Tooth Heal Itself?
Unfortunately, a tooth can’t heal chipping on its own. At best, it might re-mineralize and try to strengthen its remaining enamel. Even so, that doesn’t count as growing back a lost part.
This lack of healing is due to how teeth are structured. You see, pearly whites are made of enamel, dentin, and pulp. While the latter two layers have blood vessels that enable self-healing, the former doesn’t have any. That means a tooth’s enamel layer can only recover enough to fight cavities or infections. It can’t make chips disappear.
Why Should I See a Dentist for It?
Unless you get treatment for it, a chipped tooth will negatively affect your life.
Perhaps most obviously, the chip could hurt your body image. You might feel self-conscious about it if you think it’s pretty noticeable. From there, you’d probably experience a poorer mood and even social anxiety.
Apart from the cosmetic aspect, chipping also has health risks. For starters, you’d have to deal with symptoms like discomfort, sensitivity, or even severe and intolerable pain. More importantly, there’s a good chance the tooth could suffer an infection. After all, an untreated chip is vulnerable to oral bacteria. You may even lose the tooth in question if you don’t do anything about it.
What Could a Dentist Do to Help?
There are several procedures a dentist could perform to fix your chip. They include:
- Dental Bonding – Using a tooth-colored composite resin, your dentist can cover up chips, staining, and discoloration. These results could then last ten years with good care.
- Dental Cap or Crown — By removing part of the chipped tooth and covering it with a crown, your dentist could restore its appearance. Plus, this approach would protect the damaged area from plaque, bacteria, and other harmful forces.
- Veneers – This treatment applies porcelain layers onto the fronts of teeth to cover chips, fractures, stains, and other smile flaws. The ceramic can sometimes compensate for lost enamel and protect vulnerable tooth surfaces.
While we may wish otherwise, a chipped tooth in Orange Park won’t heal. As you can see, though, dentists have ways of fixing the problem. Talk to a local one today about your options!
About the Practice
Crovatto & Edwards Family Dentistry is based in Orange Park, FL. As led by Drs. Steven Crovatto and Megan Edwards, the practice prioritizes excellent patient care. To that end, its staff offers high-quality preventive, cosmetic, and restorative dentistry, including treatments for dental emergencies. You can trust that you’ll receive both kind and effective service. For more information or to book an appointment, you can reach them at their website or by phone at (904)-272-0800.