The best treatment for you will depend on the type of issue you have and its level of severity. Your dentist may need to take an X-ray to determine the extent of damage.
Broken teeth with exposed dentin, pulp, blood vessels, or nerves can potentially develop a bacterial infection, leading to a root canal or possible tooth extraction. If you break a tooth, seek dental care right away.
Minor cracks that affect only the enamel and aren’t caused by decay or poor oral health can be treated with a potentially less invasive dental procedure. Here are the most highly rated treatment options.
- Dental bonding can fill in a chipped or cracked tooth with a material like composite resin. “Bonding is basically white filling material that is firmly affixed to the chipped area and matched perfectly, to repair the tooth,” explains Dr. Zachary Linhart, a dentist and the co-founder of Linhart Dentistry in New York City and Greenwich, Connecticut.
Dental bonding lasts three to seven years, and there is a possibility that the resin will chip off or separate from your tooth, meaning you’d need a touch-up. This rarely happens with crowns or veneers. That said, this is a common and relatively inexpensive solution.
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- Dental implants or dental bridges are the ideal choice to replace a tooth that's seriously chipped, fractured, or missing. A dental implant placed in your jawbone bonds with your natural bone, becoming the support for a complete dental crown. In contrast, a dental bridge contains a false tooth or teeth and is held in place by the real teeth on either side of the gap.
Both of these options can be highly effective in restoring your smile—from the front teeth to the molars. In fact, according to the American Academy of Implant Dentistry, “dental implant surgery is one of the safest and most predictable procedures in dentistry.”
Dental implants involve a surgical procedure, but they can last up to 25 years, while dental bridges last just 5 to 10 years.
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- Dental crowns can fix a more severely chipped tooth. Usually made of porcelain, ceramic, metal, or resin, a crown covers the entire remaining tooth segment, improving its strength and appearance. A dental crown is a noninvasive, low-risk procedure that's often performed after a root canal.
Your dentist examines the extent of your tooth's damage, possibly filing it down and filling it in if it’s broken. Then a mold will be taken of your teeth, to help a laboratory create a custom, permanent crown. Once it's ready, the crown will be affixed to the compromised tooth with a bonding agent. Some dental crowns require an implant, to restore a missing tooth from root to crown.
Crowns typically last 5 to 15 years, depending on what it's made of and how well you care for it.
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- Porcelain veneers are thin shells that permanently attach to your natural teeth, to improve their size, shape, or color. Dental veneers attach to the front surface of the tooth, where they can correct minor chips.
The process for affixing veneers is similar to that used for dental crowns, and they typically last 15 to 30 years. A 2012 study even showed that the “survival rate” of porcelain veneers was 94.4% after five years, 93.5% at 10 years, and 82.9% at 20 years.
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Related: What It’s Really Like to Get Veneers
- Tooth polish. If the chipping is minor, a dentist may just polish the surface in order to smooth a jagged edge, a technique called cosmetic contouring. “Sometimes a very small chip that feels rough but is superficial can just be polished by a dentist so it feels smooth but is otherwise left alone,” explains Dr. Linhart.
RealSelf Tip: Teeth whitening treatments won't affect the color of any of the treatment options mentioned here, so it's best to get your natural teeth whitened before undergoing any of these procedures. Your provider will then match your veneers, crowns, bonding, or implants to the color of your natural teeth.
