why is it that you can break a piece of a tooth and it doesn’t need fixing, but if you have the tiniest cavity it has to get filled ASAP?
In: Biology
I work reception at a dental office.
Ideally, you should get both fixed ASAP. With breakage, it can depend on how much of the protective enamel has broken and whether the nerve is exposed. If it’s just a slight chip, the dentist may mark it as something “to watch”- aka to be re-evaluated at your next check up. But if the bottom part of the tooth is just hanging off and the nerve is exposed, you will likely need an extraction.
Cavities are active decay that have infiltrated the protective enamel surrounding your teeth. Teeth are basically bones- the protective structure on the outside does not grow back once decay has infiltrated, and once it reaches the inner nerve(s) of the tooth there is then a risk of a blood infection forming within the jaw, and that could eventually cause issues elsewhere in the body.
Also, the longer you leave a cavity, the more expensive potential treatments could become. If a nerve or 2 dies inside of the tooth because the filling was put off, that could turn into a root canal AND a filling, which at the clinic I work at can be around $1200 compared to the $150 for the filling alone. And then because of the weakened state of the tooth post-root canal, most dentists will recommend a crown (think of it as a protective hat for your tooth that is cemented into place.) That can be an additional $1500.
So when you look at the cost of dealing with a small cavity ASAP ($150) vs. dealing with it when the pain is no longer tolerable ($2850), the answer is a no brainer.
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