While your teeth are actually the strongest part of your entire body, they’re not indestructible. Sometimes, all it takes is a sudden fall or slip, some incidental contact with someone else, or any kind of minor accident to cause your tooth to chip. While large chips in teeth can be very painful, even the smallest ones can still have detrimental effects, such as leaving you with a smile that feel incomplete, or even just a tooth with an annoyingly sharp edge.
So what do you do when you chip a tooth? While it may not be as serious as getting a tooth knocked out completely, fixing that chip and keeping your smile complete is still very important, and can still require some quick thinking to completely save that tooth. To make sure you’re prepared in the event of an unforeseen accident that leaves you with a smile that’s a bit less than 100 percent, your local smile experts here at Palola Dental have put together this guide on what to do when you chip a tooth. Learn everything you need to know by checking out the information below!
Step-By-Step: How To Handle A Chipped Tooth
If you chip your tooth, just follow the steps below and your smile should be back to normal before you know it!
- Immediately contact Palola Dental to schedule an appointment as soon as possible.
- Try to gather any chipped pieces of your tooth.
- Mix some warm water & salt and rinse your mouth with the solution. This will prevent infection and reduce any pain you may be experiencing.
- If the area is bleeding, apply some gauze and apply pressure to the injured area.
- Press an ice pack against the face on the side of the chipped tooth to help reduce swelling.
- If the chip created any sharp edges, place some sugar free gum or dental wax over the sharp points to protect you from cuts or irritation.
- If you are experiencing pain after the chip, you can take over-the-counter pain relievers.
- Limit the use of your tooth and the area around it by eating only soft foods or liquids.
Once you’ve gone over all of these steps, just make sure you continue to be careful with that broken tooth until your appointment with us when Dr. Palola can repair the chip.
How Can A Chipped Tooth Be Fixed?
No one wants to be stuck with an incomplete smile for the rest of their life, which is why Palola Dental offers a wide range of tooth restoration treatment options for our patients if you ever find yourself with a chipped tooth. Tooth restoration options for chips include:
- Smoothing & Shaping – If the chip in the tooth is very small, Dr. Palola can use special dental tools to carefully clear away small bits of your tooth enamel around the chip to shape the tooth and smooth out the chipped area, making it appear as if it if was never chipped at all.
- Bonding – If any of the front teeth have been chipped, dental bonding can be used to either reconnect the chipped piece with the tooth, or create a brand-new, lifelike restoration of the piece of enamel that was lost.
- Dental Veneers – Veneers are a versatile cosmetic dental treatment that hides chips in the tooth by placing a thin, ceramic shell over the tooth.
- Fillings – For chips in a molar, fillings can restore the lost enamel with a durable, composite material that will also protect the chipped area from becoming decayed.
- Dental Crowns – For more severe chips in teeth or cases of extensive tooth damage that requires a root canal, dental crowns protect the remaining healthy tooth from further damage or decay by placing a full cap over the tooth that looks and feels like a natural tooth.
Repair Chipped Teeth & Restore Your Smile Today!
If you’ve chipped a tooth, you don’t have to subject yourself to seeing an incomplete smile every time you look in the mirror. Instead, restore your smile to its former glory by contact us at Palola Dental to schedule an appointment for a tooth restoration treatment. We’ve provided the communities of Honolulu, Waipahu, and Mililani, HI with superior dental care for years, helping countless patients achieve the perfect, healthy they deserve. If you have any questions about the tooth restoration treatments or other cosmetic and general dental treatments that we offer, don’t hesitate to reach out to us, and a member of our staff will be able to assist you. We look forward to seeing you in our office soon!
