Symptoms for cracked teeth are not limited to but include painful chewing, sensitivity to temperature, and pain when releasing the bite position. Symptoms may also be randomly occurring, making it more difficult to find the true cause. Chewing with cracked teeth causes discomfort as the pulp of the tooth is irritated as the cracked pieces move around. When releasing a bite, the crack can close quickly and bring a sharp pain. Once pain becomes completely consistent, we know that the pulp has been injured. Cracks are problematic because they expose the pulp to possible infection and another whole avenue of problems.
Craze Lines: This superficial cracks usually occur in adults and bring no issues. They only affect the outer enamel of the tooth.
Fractured Cusp: The dentist may remove the cusp or it may break by itself if it becomes weakened. A root canal is not needed for fractured cusps as the pulp is rarely damaged. A crown is the most likely avenue of treatment.
Cracked Tooth: This type of crack commences from the incisor/occlusal (chewing) surface of the tooth and makes its way down south towards the root. It is possible for the crack to travel down into the gum line and into the tooth’s root with the pulp frequently being damaged. We constantly reiterate the importance of coming as soon as the tooth has been cracked because if it is not treated as soon as possible, the end result can be complete loss of the tooth.
Split Tooth: A split tooth is characterized by two easily distinguishable segments of the tooth and most likely is caused from a crack that has not been addressed. A split tooth’s position and total damage will determine how much of it can be saved, but never the whole thing can be. Dentists commonly use an endodontic or restorative approach for a split tooth.
Vertical Root Fracture: This type of fracture is sneaky because it commences at the root of the tooth and migrates up north toward the chewing surfaces. Hence, they only show symptoms when they are in their worst stages. We can save the tooth through endodontic surgery by removing the damaged root, if this can’t occur they we have to extract the tooth.