Danger Of Cracked Tooth



A cracked tooth can occur from injury or wear and tear. If you have a cracked tooth, it can’t be treated at home and instead needs a dentist’s care. Symptoms of a cracked tooth include pain when you’re chewing and when you release the bite, pain that’s constant or comes and goes, and sudden pain when the cracked tooth is exposed to hot.

Compared to conditions like periodontitis, edentulism, and halitosis, most people would quickly assume that a cracked tooth is a fairly petty oral health problem. A simple slit in the tooth won’t cause damage as serious as periodontal pockets in the mouth, right?

Danger Of Cracked Tooth

A broken wisdom tooth left untreated can lead to many problems. Depending on the location of the break, it could leave a hole that makes the tooth more vulnerable to bacteria and decay. If bacteria gets into the break, you could end up with an infected tooth. An untreated infection can spread to the surrounding gum tissue of other teeth. The Dangers of a Cracked Tooth Although teeth are very strong, they can break under certain circumstances. Tooth enamel can sometimes be fractured or chipped by bad oral habits like chewing on hard items or munching on ice. While some cases are insignificant, others develop potentially dangerous complications that may require extensive treatment. Attack of the Cracked Tooth The most critical risk of leaving a cracked tooth unaddressed is the possibility of abscess formation. A fracture in the tooth makes the nerve inside vulnerable.

Wrong.

Living with a cracked tooth

Most people tend to believe that mild and temporary pain is the only thing that comes with a cracked tooth. It is ironic that when patients experience this dental emergency, they rarely see it as a problem that requires urgent attention. They postpone treatments and simply put up with the symptoms.

While some cases are insignificant, others develop potentially dangerous complications that may require extensive treatment.

Attack of the Cracked Tooth

The most critical risk of leaving a cracked tooth unaddressed is the possibility of abscess formation. A fracture in the tooth makes the nerve inside vulnerable. Over time, the nerve and cells inside of the tissue die and discharge the contents. This develops into pus and may trigger severe pain.

Left untreated, this can lead to tooth loss and serious complications, including sepsis (blood infection), osteomyelitis (bone infection), and cavernous sinus thrombosis (life-threatening blood clot).

Treatment for the Problem

Because of the health risks associated with a cracked tooth, it is important to seek care immediately to prevent more serious conditions.

If the tooth can be saved with a restoration the best option is to have a crown.

Crowns are an ideal solution and involve grinding a segment of the remaining tooth and placing on a tooth-shaped cap. This improves function and appearance of the tooth and provides protection of the remaining tooth tissue.

If the tooth become infected the treatment solution would be root canal therapy. This is what we recommend for patients where the fracture is large enough and reveals the pulp and tooth infection. Root canal therapy entails eliminating dead pulp, cleaning the canal and closing it off.

A cracked tooth, simple as it may sound, is a big deal. It can cause serious complications, which may affect not just your oral health. but overall well being. Seek treatment immediately.

Tooth Decay Dangers: The Ugly Truth

As one of the most fundamental oral health issues that youcan face, Tooth decay remains a serious but often overlooked aspect of one’soverall health.

While once considered as little more than a minor nuisance, inmore recent years, various long-term health issues have been discovered to belinked to (or directly caused by) tooth decay. While such recent discoveries have forced the healthindustry to reevaluate their stance on tooth decay and take the issue much moreseriously, according to The National Institute of Dental and CraniofacialResearch, approximal 85% of American adults between the ages of 20-64 have someform of tooth decay in a statistic that unfortunately continues to remainstagnant. But as sobering as this statistic might be, tooth decay isn’t reallyTHAT dangerous is it?

Well to answer that, it’s important to have a clear understandingof what exactly tooth decay is and how it’s able to manifest. The informationprovided below will hopefully present you with not only a basic understandingof tooth decay, but also what sort of hazards the illness may bring.

Tooth Decay Dangers: How It Happens

As its name implies, tooth decay is a condition in which the build-up of acidic material in a person’s mouth causes the outer layers of their teeth to slowly begin to erode and dissolve. When a tooth has lost its protective outer coating, it is left vulnerable to the elements causing the tooth to wither and begin to break down, thereby beginning the process of tooth decay. Being a progressive illness, tooth decay is not something that will display significant signs immediately, but rather will develop over an extended period, and gradually worsen over time. Certainly, the idea of damaged or rotten teeth may sound unpleasant, what truly makes this an urgent issue are the infectious complications that can occur as a result of tooth decay. If allowed to spread, the complications can be serious or even life-threatening if left improperly treated.

Read More: Tooth Decay: A Sickly, Sweet Dilemma

Tooth Decay Dangers: Signs & Symptoms

As mentioned previously, the early symptoms of tooth decay are relatively minor and easy to dismiss. Unfortunately, the tendency to ignore such conditions can be a very costly error as it allows the illness to progress and become increasingly difficult to treat. While not all of the symptoms listed here are definitive signs of tooth decay, if you are experiencing any such symptoms, we recommend you contact your dental practitioner to receive a formal checkup.

  • Unexplained toothaches or spontaneous tooth sensitivity
  • Moderate to severe pain while consuming hot/cold foods or drinks
  • Visible holes, stains, or crevices on a tooth’s surface
  • Chronic foul breath
  • Alterations in bite or difficulty while chewing
  • Discoloration of tooth and surrounding gumline

Read more here about how to stop bad breath.

Tooth Decay Dangers: The Domino Effect

As nasty as tooth decay can be, failing to recognize thesymptoms and assess the condition can have terrifying ramifications! The cruxof this concern is the propensity for bacteria to spread, thus setting off a chainreaction within the body. When teeth have decayed due to bacteria, the excessbuildup of bacteria is certain to spread to the surrounding gumline therebycausing an infection in the gums, or what’s known as Periodontitis.

Related Article: Do you sip and snack all day? Read more about how sugar can harm your teeth and cause decay.

When a serious oralinfection occurs, there is always the potential for the excess bacteria tospread to the bloodstream and possibly reach other regions of the body.

This is particularlydangerous for two reasons:

Cracked Tooth Crown

  1. Thebacteria’s uncanny ability to interact with and exacerbate certain pre-existinghealth conditions, (such as Diabetes).
  2. Perhaps an even greater concern is the affectthe bacteria can have on the cardiovascular health of the individual.

As something of an umbrella term,cardiovascular or heart disease pertains to any such conditions that may blockthe heart’s valves or restrict its blood flow in anyway.

Cracked Molar Tooth

In severe cases of tooth decay, whenthe excess bacteria enter the body’s blood vessels, it will begin to travelthroughout the body. If the bacteria can reach the heart, it will inflame itsvessels thereby causing blood clots to develop and damage to occur. This damagewill slowly began restricting the flow of blood, effectively choking the heartand forcing it to pump faster while producing less and less.

Given this, skeptics in both thedental and medical fields are quick to point out that despite the previousinformation, tooth decay does not guarantee an eventual heart attack. Whilethis is certainly true, according to a recent study conducted by HarvardUniversity, individuals afflicted with significant tooth decay have at least atwo to three times higher probability of suffering a heart attack, stroke, orother sort of cardiovascular-based issue; sadly, proving the correlation to beself-evident.

Symptoms Of A Cracked Tooth

Tooth Decay Dangers: Prevention Is the Answer!

Cracked Tooth Under Crown

So, to answer the question posed earlier, unfortunately theanswer is: “YES”. If left untreated for too long and allowed to progress toadvanced stages, tooth decay can be THAT dangerous and YES it CAN actually KILLYou.

However, keep in mind that tooth decay requires time to reachthis critical point, and much like a runaway train, severe tooth decay is onlyhard to stop or slowdown once it gets going, so the key is prevention! Bypreventing tooth decay before it starts or stopping it while it’s still in theearly stages, are your best bet to preventing tooth decay.

Your friends at Overland Park Dentistry are here to help you keep tooth decay dangers at bay! By scheduling your routine six-month checkups with Dr. Kimes and his staff, you will help keep your teeth and gums healthy.

Localdentist, Dr. Charles R. Kimes, DDS, and his team at Overland Park Dentistry look forward to having the opportunity to care for you andyour family with preventative, restorative or cosmetic dentistry. To schedule your dental appointment with yourOverland Park Dentist, contact us at oursouth Overland Park office at (913) 647-8700 or our north Overland Park officeat (913) 341-2380.