How Can I Save My Damaged Teeth?

July 1, 2023

Your teeth have the potential to last a lifetime. They are coated by minerals, which makes them the sturdiest tissue in the body. However, they cannot offer longevity when minimal care is offered. They need daily care if they are to survive the onslaught of bacteria and demineralization that is thrown at them each day.

But if your teeth are damaged due to tooth decay or trauma, you might need to visit our dentist in Encinitas, CA, to repair it. Saving a damaged tooth is the wisest thing to do for your dental health and aesthetics.

Does Your Tooth Need Saving?

One of the ways that will alert you to the issue plaguing your tooth is pain. Pain will intensify if the damage has exposed your nerves. If this is the case, you might even need emergency dental care.

But at times, the damage might not be close to the nerves, but it might still cause some discomfort or pain, especially when you are eating or drinking cold hot or cold stuff. If you also need sensitive teeth whitening, it could be a sign that your enamel is thinning out or there is damage to your teeth.

In any case, you will need to come to our office for a dental exam. Our dentist will need to check on your tooth to check the severity of the damage.

As a rule of thumb, our dentist believes that all teeth must be saved; therefore, everything will be done to restore your tooth. Extraction is always the last resort.

But if you are lucky, several dental treatments can save a damaged tooth. Let’s check them out!

How Can Our Dentist Save Damaged Teeth?

Dentistry changes with each waking day, so don’t be shocked to see different treatments evolve and others coming up. Thanks to these innovations and new techniques, we have a myriad of options that can deal with damaged teeth.

These are some of the procedures that our dentist in Encinitas, CA, can perform to salvage your damaged tooth:

1. Dental Bonding

Composite or dental bonding commonly uses composite resin to repair broken, chipped, discolored, or misshapen teeth. Dental bonding can last ten years if you care for your bonded teeth.

Our dentist will not use anesthesia since the procedure is pain-free. However, local anesthesia will be necessary if you need to use it to repair cavities. In a nutshell, our dentist will roughen your teeth and then place conditioning liquid. The composite resin will be placed on your teeth, molded, and smoothed.

Ultraviolet light will cure the composite resin; then, our dentist will shape and polish it after it has dried to match the rest of the tooth.

2. Root Canal Therapy

If a crack or decay has extended to the inner parts of the tooth and reached the root canal, then you will need root canal therapy. This is what makes a cavity painful since the nerves have been exposed.

Our dentist near you will use local anesthesia to numb the tooth and then use a drill to gain access to the inner part of the tooth. Then, the decayed part of the tooth, which includes the pulp, bacteria, and food debris, will be removed. Our dentist will then clean the pulp chamber, fill it using gutta-percha, then a dental filling will seal the tooth. Alternatively, a dental crown can cover the tooth to prevent the crack from spreading.

3. Dental Crowns

You may need a tooth crown if your tooth has chipped badly or is damaged by decay. Crowns come in handy when there is significant damage to your teeth. However, they require some amount of enamel to be removed.

The crown is a dental cap covering a tooth to protect it from further damage. That’s why some amount of your enamel has to be removed to give it room to fit without being bulky. Once a crown has been fitted over a tooth, it restores the function and dental aesthetics.

4. Dental Fillings

Dental fillings are another way of repairing a damaged tooth. Cavities can destroy the tooth’s enamel causing it to be structurally compromised. Our dentist removes the decayed part and fills the gap left using dental fillings.

These are just some common procedures that our dentist in Encinitas, CA, can use to save damaged teeth. Contact us at Sinclair Smiles if you wish to save a damaged tooth.

Back to Blog

• Previous Blog
• Next Blog