Whaaaa! I just broke off part of a tooth

[kenny]

Here it is on a dime.

Kinda gross, but kinda cool.
First pic is the outer surface, and the second pic is the inner surface.
This was a first molar in the top left so I think I'll need a crown.

 

[Enerchi]

Crown and possibly root canal work. What about pulling it and having an implant? Pricey but in the long run, much less trouble.

 

[Skippy123]

Crown and possibly root canal work. What about pulling it and having an implant? Pricey but in the long run, much less trouble.

I will ditto this. The only reason I say that is because I had a root canal due to resorption in that particular tooth. Well fast forward a year and half, since my tooth was weak from them drilling out the root, it created a hairline crack. No one can see the crack but it makes my gum separate from the tooth. The dentist said that happens! An Surgical Odontist did the work but if they would of said, hey, in X amount of times we do this, X % of times there are hairline cracks down the road. Long story short; it cost me approx $4,000 for the root canal and crown and I probably still need to have the tooth pulled an have an implant put in for $3,000

sorry Kenny that happened to you

 

[Haven]

Oh man, Kenny. I'm sorry you broke your tooth.

Really cool pictures, though!

 

[ihy138]

I'm sorry this happened to you! Half grossed out and half intrigued by the pictures. Hope you can get it fixed soon

 

[Autumnovember]

holy moly guacamole!

part of my tooth broke off while I was in class! I haven't gotten it fixed because apparently, I'm gonna need a root canal. Me and the dentist aren't friends.

 

[Monnyjay]

Sorry about your tooth Kenny, I would probably consider an implant replacement it's the only way to go. I had a crown with a hairline crack (root canal was done). It became infected, not nice so had to have the crown removed including the tooth. My only option is an implant but I am happy to do it. I have 2 others and they are great. You really never have to worry about it again.

You were lucky you didn't swallow the piece that broke off. Good luck with it

 

[tyty333]

I have a piece of that moonstone! The tooth had a big filling in it forever and while chewing on a hard cracker a corner of it
snapped off. I've been to the dentist and I'm waiting for a cap to be put on. The dentist said I didnt need a root canal but I've
had one cap that they had to go through and do a root canal. Hope that doesnt happen with this one.

 

[swingirl]

Awww. Sorry about your tooth. I hope you can get it repaired or replaced quickly and painlessly.

 

[asscherisme]

Here it is on a dime.

Kinda gross, but kinda cool.
First pic is the outer surface, and the second pic is the inner surface.
This was a first molar in the top left so I think I'll need a crown.

Ouch! I had something similar happen a few years ago. I ended up with a root canal and a crown. I was soooo freaked out when I realized it was a chunk of my tooth that fell out. IT was a tooth that has a huge metal filling in it from when I was a kid. And 30 years of that metal filling just weakened the tooth over time.

Hopefully the repair whatever it is is not too expensive or painful. Dental work sucks, but having a full mouth of teeth is worth it.

 

[chrono]

So are you planning to be crowned King Kenny or be an imposter?

 

[kenny]

So are you planning to be crowned King Kenny or be an imposter?

I'm not sure what's going to happen.
My dentist of 30 years is on vacation and I love and trust him so much that I don't really want to see anyone else.
I think I'm just going to eat gently on the other side and wait till he returns.
I have no idea if we're looking at a crown, extraction/implant . . . we'll see.

 

[daintyG]

just curious, does it hurt or ache?

 

[kenny]

just curious, does it hurt or ache?

No not at all.
It happens to be the VERY back outer corner of the VERY back top molar.
One option I will discuss with the dentist is simply extracting the tooth and not replacing it.
If we did this but the the bottom opposing tooth makes no contact it may fall out.
Apparently teeth banging against each other helps keep them in place.
If the #2 tooth (the molar next to the chipped one) makes some contact with the lower molar (to keep it in place) extraction may be a viable option.

 

[iLander]

Same thing happened to me. I felt incredibly betrayed by a tooth that looked fine, actually had a tiny hole, and turns out it was rotting from the inside out. Just exploded one day when I was eating. That little bastard.

The DDS first tried to rebuild it, then that broke in a year, then we rebuilt it some more, and that went. Then I had to spend $2200 (boy that ticked me off, big time!) for a root canal and crown. The root canal was painless, the crown is okay, but it felt weird for like 6 months. I am supposed to have him check it every year.

I believe in evolution, but don't you think we should have evolved to the point where our teeth last as long as we do?

 

[Hera]

Is it big enough that you will need to do something to it? I have two chipped teeth that I know of and one of them is twenty years old and has never even been mentioned by my dentist. Looking at your pic, that chip seems very small.

 

[kenny]

Is it big enough that you will need to do something to it? I have two chipped teeth that I know of and one of them is twenty years old and has never even been mentioned by my dentist. Looking at your pic, that chip seems very small.

I'd say, Yes.
The concern is that more of the tooth will chip away.
I have another 30 years to live and would like the benefits of all of my natural teeth.

 

[rainwood]

Kenny -

From the tooth fragment, it looks like the molar had a filling in it. I've had several teeth with big fillings that cracked and a piece broke off. If that's all it is and there's no gum disease or anything else, a crown will be fine. I've had to do that on several teeth and the crowns have been problem-free for 20 years so far. If there's gum disease and you need a root canal, there may be other, better alternatives.

When I cracked one of my teeth, it was late Thursday afternoon and my dentist doesn't work on Friday or Saturday so I chewed a piece of sugarless gum and stuck it over the sharp part for 3 days. When I called on Monday, the dentist said "Why didn't you call the emergency line? I would have come in and done a temporary for you." He thought I was nuts for not wanting to bother him on his day off.