What should I do about my front tooth?? Had a tiny chip in it, was still very strong. Bonded it and it feels thin and weak.

Question

I bit into a fork and put a tiny chip in my front top tooth. Of course, my dentist was away. I called a dentist I worked for as a teenager and he said he could bond it without drilling away any tooth. It looks beautiful, however, I have not eaten any real food or been able to relax because I feel that he did, in fact, drill away some of the enamel from the bottom of my tooth. It feels very thin. I am afraid my whole tooth will break...Sorry no photo

Mufaddal Kapadia, DDS · Answer

As another colleague has already written, it may be best to see if that chip/uneven edge can be sanded and polished without any restoration placed. At this point, just wait to see how long this bonding lasts you, and in the future you can always consider that option if needed. Sometimes it is easier and better to even it out with polishing rather than filling a small space - which has a higher tendency to constantly break/chip.Good luck!

Paola Annoni Patel, DDS · Answer

The smaller a chip is, the more difficult it is to repair it (guaranteeing longevity) via bonding because there is often insufficient structure for the resin to grab on to. If the chip is small enough, a viable option is often polishing out the uneven incisal surface to level it off. However, if bonding is to be done, part of the tooth surface is often "roughened up" by using a fine bur/drill and etching (the blue or purple gel) so that the resin material has more surface area to bond to. Even if the tooth surface is altered, small fillings on the ends of front teeth tend to chip off with time- again, because they don't form a very strong bond to begin with. If the bonding chips off, I would try to see if the uneven surface can just be polished to level by your dentist.

What should I do about my front tooth?? Had a tiny chip in it, was still very strong. Bonded it and it feels thin and weak.

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Answers (2)

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