Broken Teeth

All too often we are not careful about how we take care of our teeth. There are many ways which we can cause broken teeth and fractured teeth. Being careful of some basic behaviors can save us lots of pain and suffering later on.

Bad Habits

Many people have developed oral habits that can cause broken teeth. For example, chewing on hard items like pencils do great damage. Since these behaviors are unconscious much of the time, they go on for extended periods of time. Biting like this will cause micro fractures that can damage the enamel making it more susceptible to breaking. Some people eat things like sun flour seed and always break them with one of their front teeth. Over the years that can cause an unsightly groove in the tooth.

Another prime source of broken teeth is chewing on ice. While it might be fun, the hard ice itself can break a tooth. But less well known is the fact that the freezing ice causes an internal stress in the tooth itself which can weaken the tooth by creating microscopic internal fractures.

Sports And Tooth Danger

Of course contact Sports are a constant concern for teeth. We all know of the hockey players missing their front tooth, but damage can happen when you least expect it. So many times as the summer arrives, I have patients who dived off the diving board into the pool  and did not realize that they were headed right for the floor of the pool. They hit their tooth on the floor and it breaks. Bike riding is another prime source for tooth damage. See this picture of a child who broke their front teeth. There is a characteristic breakage pattern of an angled break. One way to prevent these concerns is to have a child wear a sports guard when they are involved in an activity that can hurt their teeth.