There are many reasons people need help from their dentists and other medical professionals. While many instances require emergency treatment, sometimes even via the hospital, plenty more are not classed as emergencies and can even see you waiting for weeks and months for treatment after speaking to your dentist. This is all based on how much pain you’re in or how many other problems this issue is causing.
If you can eat perfectly well and get by with very few problems, you’ll likely have to wait so that people with emergencies can be treated first, but it’s still important to get these issues treated. We’ve listed some of the most common non-emergency dental problems and the treatments your dentist might use to help rectify the problem.
Broken Or Chipped Tooth
When a tooth breaks, it can be immediately painful, and a lot of the time, you may end up rushing to seek emergency care. However, many people break or chip their teeth without seeking emergency care and can go for weeks without noticing, such as when you crack a molar, which isn’t as visible because they’re at the back of your mouth. It’s still important to get this treated as soon as you notice, however.
If a tooth is broken, it could be dead and rot, change colour and be generally unpleasant. Bacteria can then make their way into the break and cause significant damage to the root or the rest of the tooth. Your dentist has a few options for repairing this problem, ranging from resin bonding, which builds up your tooth with a composite resin material that is the same colour as your teeth, or they could even add a porcelain crown to the tooth, which can help to shield your real tooth from further damage and pain.
Missing Tooth
Teeth that have fallen out or been knocked out in an accident aren’t going to be put back in. Instead, you’ll need to have something added to the gap as a replacement, and there are a few different options for this. These treatments range from titanium implants into the jaw, which then has a false tooth affixed to the fitting; bridges which are false teeth suspended by two adjacent crowns attached to your real teeth; or dentures which can come in an array of different shapes and sizes to fill small gaps or serve as an entire row of teeth.
Gum Disease
Professional dentists will instruct you on how to avoid this where possible, but sometimes we lose the battle against gum disease and then have to deal with this new development. Several treatments are available for gum disease, ranging from professional tooth and gum cleaning to serious surgical treatments like soft tissue grafts and bone surgery.
This entirely depends on the severity of the disease, but you just found yourself an expert dentist like those at Pure Dentistry to ensure that they catch it before it becomes too much of a problem. Please find out more about their treatments at puredentistry.com.au.
Tooth Decay
This is a very common issue and is generally caused by a lack of proper dental hygiene combined with eating unhealthy foods for your teeth. These foods tend to be high in sugar and acidity and will erode parts of your teeth when not cleaned properly, leading to decay. These degraded areas can develop into very painful areas on your teeth, reaching down into the root. However, these holes can be filled with a filling, essentially plugging the space and preventing further damage.
Stained Teeth
If your teeth have become tarnished by years of drinking coffee and tea or by smoking too much, you’ll likely end up becoming slightly self-conscious of their appearance. Many people deal with this problem daily and choose to obtain whitening treatment kits over the counter or professional treatment from their dentist.
As well as whitening treatments, there is also the option of veneers, which are a porcelain shell affixed over the top of your teeth. Your real teeth will be filed down to fit the veneers, and then this new porcelain cover, which will look like your real teeth, could last upwards of 10 years or so with proper care.
Dead Teeth
Some teeth that have been broken or damaged significantly can end up dying. This is where there is no longer a supply of blood to the tooth, and it will begin to change colour. This isn’t painful straight away in some cases, but it can develop into a big problem if left for too long.
Your dentist will need to extract this tooth before considering which course of action to fill the gap, as mentioned above. Don’t leave a dead tooth for too long, as it can end up being extremely painful and even dangerous for the rest of your teeth if bacteria spread to them and even your jawbone and gums.
