Blog Bucktown Dental Associates
Posts for: March, 2012
Quality dental care is essential for your child's lifelong oral health. It's important that your child's first experiences with the dentist are positive. That's why your dentist will make every effort to help your child feel comfortable and in control during each visit. Your own attitude and example also play an important role in setting the stage for a lifetime of healthy smiles!
Your child should visit a dentist as early as six months, when the baby's first tooth appears. A first tooth's appearance is an excellent time to schedule a dental evaluation. At that time, your dentist will diagnose and help prevent any future oral disorders. Your dentist can also answer any questions you have about caring for your child's teeth.
During your visit your attitude can convey the message that dental visits are pleasant adventures. Emphasize the attention that your child will get while in the chair. Try to schedule the appointment for the time of day when your child is most rested and cooperative. To prepare your child, read a story together about a trip to the dentist. You may want to play dentist and take turns looking into each other's mouth with a flashlight. Have fun; this should be a pleasant experience!
While the enamel [outside covering of the crown of a tooth] is the hardest substance in the human body, undue stress on your teeth may cause them to crack. Causes include chewing hard foods [such as a popcorn kernel], biting on ice cubes, biting on a hard object such as a pen or pipe and/or clenching or grinding your teeth [bruxism].
Cracked Tooth Syndrome is very common in teeth with large fillings in them and most often is seen in your back teeth. If the crack goes untreated, it may deepen or expand like a crack in a glass window, causing part of the tooth to break off. If this occurs, the tooth may have to be extracted or might need root canal treatment in an attempt to save the tooth.
Some of the symptoms of this occurrence are: pain on chewing, unsolicited pain, pain from cold air, no x-ray evidence of the problem and no dental decay present. Often it is difficult for the patient to determine which tooth is causing the pain. However, the absence of pain does not rule out the presence of a crack.
To determine if a tooth has developed a crack that is not visible to the naked eye, the dentist will take a through dental history including history of trauma to your teeth and history of any bite adjustments that were performed. The teeth in the problem area will be examined with a dental explorer. Hot and cold sensitivity of the teeth will be tested. If a severe pain is elicited with temperature, and the pain rapidly subsides with removal of the stimulus, it is usually indicative of a fracture. Sometimes, transillumination [light source] with magnification is used to help visualize the suspected crack. The diagnosis can be further confirmed when the dentist uses a plastic or wooden instrument or cotton roll that rests on one part of a tooth while you are asked to bite down. Pain in a specific areas helps isolate the position of the crack. In certain instances, removal of a restoration [filling] may be necessary to visualize the crack and assess its potential to harm the pulp [nerve].
Can cracks be treated so that the tooth can be saved? Yes. Unfortunately, cracked teeth don't heal themselves like your bones. Early diagnosis leads to a better chance of success. The best solution is to have a full crown [cap] placed over the tooth to strengthen and hold the tooth together. In about 10% of cracked teeth, the nerve dies and root canal [endodontic treatment] will be required, along with the cementation of a post into the nerve canal before the crown and be completed and the tooth restored.
Call our office for questions or to set up an appointment if you are experiencing any of the cracked tooth symptoms.
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Chicago, IL 60647
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