Children are sometimes prone to bad oral habits like chewing on ice and nibbling on pens and pencils. They also tend to take chances with their teeth crunching on hard candies, biting their fingernails or using their teeth to wrench open water bottles and other containers.
These habits can leave your child increasingly susceptible to suffering one or more fractured teeth. When a tooth is damaged the severity of the problem can range from the minimal discomfort of a small chip to the significant physical distress of a major dental fracture.
Even if the damage to the tooth seems minor at first, and they don’t complain about sensitivity problems, you still shouldn’t procrastinate having it examined by a dentist like Dr. Jon Ormson. Without professional attention the chipped primary tooth could eventually come to host tooth decay.
Our dentist will perform a thorough examination to assess the severity of the damage to the primary tooth’s enamel layer and any of the related structures within. Once this is done, he will present you with the appropriate treatment plan.
In a case where the primary tooth’s biting surface has been badly damaged, and the underlying permanent tooth has not fully formed, our dentist might recommend installing a dental cap over the tooth. Also known as a dental crown it will replicate the tooth’s enamel layer and preserve its basic function in your child’s mouth.
If your child has recently chipped or fractured a tooth and you are in the Amarillo, Texas, area, you should call 806-354-8526 to have it examined and treated at Jon Ormson DDS.