I fell and chipped a front tooth the other day. I called my dentist’s emergency number and he said when this whole COVID thing was all over we can put a dental crown on it. I wasn’t sure I wanted such a big procedure. Is that standard?
Kevin
Dear Kevin,
I’m going to give you one of those big “it depends” type of answers. Generally, when there is trauma to a tooth a dentist would do x-rays to see if there is any underlying damage to the tooth. If the pulp is damaged, then you may need a root canal treatment. In that case, a dental crown would make sense.
However, based on what you wrote, it sounds like you just had a phone consultation and no actual x-rays were done. A blanket suggestion of a dental crown for a chipped tooth tells me that is all he knows how to do.
Repairing a Chipped Tooth
The standard fix for a chipped tooth with no internal damage is dental bonding. This is by far the better option because it doesn’t require grinding down healthy tooth structure.
There is a caveat. If your dentist doesn’t usually do a dental bonding fix, don’t pressure him into it. The results will not be what you want. Dental bonding has to be done freehand and requires a practiced and artistic eye. Instead, I would just go to a different dentist to have the bonding done.
Just be certain you look at their smile gallery of dental bonding they’ve done so you get an idea of what their results look like. Cosmetic dentistry isn’t a recognized specialty. Just because any dentist can do it doesn’t mean any dentist can do it if you know what I mean.
This blog is brought to you by Baton Rouge Dentist Dr. Steven Collins