Playing Rough With Your Teeth?


Contact sports like football and hockey are synonymous with broken teeth. Sometimes a mouthguard just isn’t enough to save them. The rough and tumble nature of the game can lead to all sorts of injuries, dental ones included.
Teeth can be badly damaged or broken in these instances and can cause any range of problems from pain to trouble eating to simply not liking the way it looks. What is one to do when the game takes it out on your pearly whites?
Here Are Some Options
- Root canal therapy – When a tooth is badly damaged from trauma, not unlike that experienced on the field or on the rink, it can expose the pulpy center of the enamel to infection which we must fix for any hope of saving your tooth.
- Dental Bonding – Depending on the damage, some teeth can be repaired using a technique called dental bonding. The dentist will roughen your tooth to be more suitable for a conditioning liquid, then putty will be applied, shaped and smoothed before a UV light is used to harden the composite.
- Veneers – The dentist can also trim the broken tooth down and affix it with a veneer or a tooth cover to transform the tooth’s appearance back to its former glory or better. Veneers are usually made of porcelain so it can blend right with your natural teeth.
- Crowns – Some badly damaged teeth may require a crown. Crowns are durable and can protect your broken or damaged tooth from the pressures of chewing. You’ll first get a temporary but after an appropriate mold is made and comes back from the lab, you’ll have a permanent one.
- Replacement – In some cases, a tooth may come out of the socket completely. When this happens, locate the tooth and preserve it in a sealed jar of milk until you can get to the office so we can attempt to reseat the tooth and stabilize it with a splint.
- Extraction – Usually our last resort, extraction is saved for when the tooth cannot be saved. If we do need to perform an extraction, we can recommend a socket preservation procedure to prevent bone deterioration. Then when the healing process is complete, we can develop a restoration plan.
Prevention
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Wear a mouthguard and a face cage to keep your teeth in peak condition while playing sports. We would love to fix it for you but we would rather you take care of your teeth when possible..
Broken Tooth and Need a Dentist?
You can call our office today at (469)264-8921 to schedule an appointment or visit the Rockwall Oral Surgery contact page to get more information about broken teeth and your options about how to go about making them beautiful again.