Dentistry >>>> Tooth injury

Tooth injury.

Mechanical impact on the tooth (impact, fall, unsuccessful biting off of hard food, hitting the tooth when chewing hard foreign objects (bones, stones, etc.)) can cause tooth injury. The result of trauma is one of the following options: breaking off the crown of the tooth, fracture of the root, displacement of the tooth, dislocation of the tooth, trauma to the pulp without visible damage to the tooth itself. Sometimes combined injuries occur: fracture with displacement or dislocation of the tooth.

Signs of tooth injury:

Fracture of the coronal part is visible with the naked eye (varying degrees of chipping of the coronal part up to its complete breaking off in the area of the tooth neck - at the edge of the gums);
Breaking off part of the tooth crown (enamel chip, enamel chip with part of dentin) with exposure of the pulp and without exposure of the pulp;
In case of root fracture, tooth displacement or dislocation, the tooth becomes mobile, tapping on the tooth (percussion) is painful;
Pulp trauma is always accompanied by painful symptoms;
With a root fracture, tapping on the tooth (percussion) is painful;
Injury to the pulp without compromising the integrity of the tooth causes a pinkish discoloration of the tooth;
Tooth trauma of any nature can be accompanied by soft tissue edema, bleeding gums, difficulty opening the mouth and closing the teeth.

The presence of a tooth trauma and the degree of its damage is diagnosed radiographically.

Treatment of a tooth injury depends on the extent of the damage:

In the event of a root fracture, the tooth must be removed, and the missing tooth is restored using prosthetics on an implant.
When a part of the crown of a tooth is broken off without opening the pulp chamber, cosmetic restoration is performed - restoration of the crown part of the tooth with composite materials.
If the pulp chamber is damaged and the coronal part is broken off of a small extent, the tooth is depulpated and cosmetically restored with composite materials.
In case of significant fracture from the coronal part, the tooth is restored with an artificial crown (plastic, metal, combined, metal-ceramic) with the preliminary installation of an anchor or an intra-root tab, the upper part of which will simulate a part of the stump of the coronal part of the tooth.
If the crown part of the tooth is completely broken off while maintaining a healthy and immovable root, the tooth can be restored using a pin tooth or an intra-root cast inlay with a molded stump of the crown part of the tooth for further prosthetics with an artificial crown.