So I was chewing on a grilled hamburger last night and felt a sharp pain in the back of my mouth, followed by a cracking sound. I'd apparently bitten down on a piece of bone that was in the meat and caught it just right. Spit the food out, look in the mirror, and see that the bottom right molar is broken, with the inside back quarter of the tooth missing. The pain at first wasn't pleasant but it receded fairly quickly into a dull throb. Called my dentist that I've gone to since I was a child and he said to make an appointment with his office for monday morning. But I'm curious what I'm looking at for fixing this. A root canal followed by a cap, or what? I think just a slight bit of nerve is exposed since if I pull cool air across the tooth I can feel a sharp little jolt, but otherwise it's just a sort of dull, nagging pain, though it's a wonderful sensation having your tongue scraping across jagged tooth since it's broken off close to the gum line.
Broken tooth
- Thread starter John Reynolds
- Start date
Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.
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I doubt the nerve is exposed, or else you'd be in a lot of pain. You've probably just got a lot of discomfort because the nerve is now a lot closer to the surface and is being affected by hot/cold a lot more.John Reynolds said:
Your dentist might just use one of the newer fill materials. They can be layered up to fill quite a volume and are pretty strong.
Generally they only use crowns/caps if they think the tooth is weak or has a lack of material left, and might split down the root, so they use the crown to hold the top together and give it strength. To do that they have to take away most of the top part of the tooth to create a peg that the crown can be cemented onto, so they don't like to do it if it means removing a large portion of healthy tooth.
My guess is your dentist will just fill it unless the damage is worse than you suggest.
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Ouchers John, I hope the fix is quick and painless whatever it is. 
I had a similar experience a while ago. I bit down on a piece of bone and the rear molar on my right side cracked. The dentist drilled into the crack until it was no longer there and then filled it with an enamel colored composite. Took about 10 minutes.
Root canals are only required if the nerve has decayed.
Root canals are only required if the nerve has decayed.
I had a root canal recently.
Had to take some anti-biotics for a week before the dentist operated as my right side was beginning to swell up.
The root canal was relatively painless but the whole two week ordeal (first week getting an appointment and then another week for the ab's to do their job) was really crap. Had to take time off work as the drugs I was on were doing funny things to my head
Had to take some anti-biotics for a week before the dentist operated as my right side was beginning to swell up.
The root canal was relatively painless but the whole two week ordeal (first week getting an appointment and then another week for the ab's to do their job) was really crap. Had to take time off work as the drugs I was on were doing funny things to my head
Blitzkrieg
Newcomer
Ouch hope its not too bad. Are dentists expensive in the US? Lack of funding for dentistry school has led to a large drop in ppl taking it as a course in NZ. As a result they are pretty expensive. I know my Father had something similar and it was around $1200NZ(720US).
Yes, dentists are expensive in the US. Hopefully John's insurance will cover it.
I had a similar thing happen a couple months ago. Only my tooth broke in half while eating a potato chip. My tooth was already cracked at that time due to a cavity under a filing I just didn't know it. The only cavity I ever had was that tooth. Anyway I had to get a crown because the cavity had to be drilled. In your case you might not need a crown and most likely don't need a root canal.
Well, ate nachos with my wife's killer bean dip last night while watching V for Vendetta for the first time and managed not to jab a nacho into that bottom tooth. Going out for a movie and dinner today to celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary ("14 years of bondage and servitude" nice attitude, john. "hey, I was describing you, not me" <smack on shoulder>), and I'm sneaking a bag of Milky Way Pop'ables into the theater in my wife's purse so that should be a fun case of one-sided mouth chewing.
In this even of broken tooth, the tooth body is now getting thinner than usual, so when you pull cool air to the broken tooth body, the cool air will convect quickly to the nerve in this case. It is called sensitive tooth now. Hopefully you would be lucky not getting a crack line on the tooth body. If the crack is developed on the tooth, and it runs into the root... only way to do is to remove that tooth since I got one before as the crack started from the molar body through the end of its rootJohn Reynolds said:
. In your case, I think it is better save to do crowning (place a cab on the broken tooth)
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Oh, I am so tempted to neg rep you for that.
Yes, dentists are expensive in the US. Hopefully John's insurance will cover it.
who made the burger ? ? ? sue!!!!
hope it's gone well..... years ago i lost most of a molar due to 'blackjacks'..
http://www.bagofsweets.com/zcart.moreinfo.php?144~Black+Jacks&View_Type=Category
"black jacks shouldnt crunch thinks i" ... "uh oh".............