While your tooth enamel is intended to be hard enough to allow your teeth to bite and chew common foods, there are still some things that can apply excessive force, causing a severe chip or significant dental fracture. When this happens you might experience persistent pain and tooth sensitivity.
Even if the tooth isn’t significantly distressed or causing you initial discomfort, the compromised area of tooth enamel could attract bacterial deposits. This could lead to a severe forming in the affected tooth. It’s important to note that there are several minor bad oral habits that can contribute to your chances of suffering a chipped or fractured tooth. Addressing these issues can help preserve the healthy integrity of your natural tooth enamel.
It’s wise to make a proactive effort to address bad habits like nibbling on pens and pencils or biting your fingernails. This also applies to improvising your teeth as tools. Any of these things could chip one of your front teeth. Crunching down on ice and other hard objects can also pose a significant threat to the structural integrity of the tooth enamel on biting surfaces of the molars or premolars in the rear of your mouth.
Grinding your teeth on a nightly basis can also lead to significant occlusal fractures. If you live in the Auburn, California, area and you have recently chipped or fractured one of your teeth, you should call 530-885-0953 to have it examined and repaired at Sean P Avera DDS Inc., especially if dental implants are the right option for you.