how serious is a slightly chipped front tooth?

Submitted ⁨⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨LaunchesKayaks@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨[deleted]⁩

I bit down wrong on a piece of chicken and smashed my bottom and top teeth together. One of my top front teeth chipped. It hurts at first and I have a mild headache. It mostly just feels weird and gritty against my tongue. It isn’t a big chip. It looks like a tiny slice was taken off the bottom of the tooth aside from the corner that touches my other front tooth.

Should I find an emergency dentist, or will waiting until Monday to call my dentist be okay?

I have a huge fear of my teeth getting fucked because I watched my biodad’s teeth rot in his mouth and fall out, and my stepfather has constant tooth infections that could totally spread to his brain and kill him because of the severity.

I brush my teeth daily and the last time I went to the dentist, my teeth were complimented several times, so I don’t have a personal history of tooth problems.

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bobs_monkey@lemm.ee ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
As long as your root isn’t exposed, you should be fine waiting until Monday. You’d know if you had pain when exposed to hot or cold, or if it was painful to the touch. I had a chipped tooth left like it was for years, and nothing came of it once I finally got it fixed.

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tunetardis@lemmy.ca ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Do you just see white along the crack? Nothing darker? In that case you’re probably fine? I chipped my front tooth when I was a kid in the stupidest accident ever. I was playing some game with friends outside and started laughing so uncontrollably I hit my tooth on a stone fence. It didn’t even hurt but my friends were like “dude!”

The dentist repaired it with some sort of fake enamel-looking stuff which lasted a number of years before falling off. They did it again and it fell off again. Eventually I was like you know what? Let’s just leave it this time. It’s not causing me any grief.

Anyway, as middle-aged guy, I have lost one tooth from infection at this point, but it had nothing to do with the chip. It was a gum infection that led to a root canal and eventually they had to remove the whole thing. I’m contemplating whether to get an implant but again, it doesn’t really bother me that it’s missing? It’s pretty far back.

For future reference, if you ever see a pussy white looking mark on your gum a little above the tooth, that’s an abscess and do get that shit looked at pronto. It’ll probably hurt and let you know it’s there though.

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- electromage@lemm.ee ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Very similar, I cracked by lower tooth on my brother’s head while playing, had it capped about 3 times. Last time the cap broke, there’s still a little bit left. Been like that for 25 years now? Might look weird but eh.
  
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snooggums@midwest.social ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
If it doesn’t hurt waiting till Monday is fine. Avoid crunchy foods though, to minimize the risk of catching the rough surface while chewing as that can feel terrible without even doing damage.

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workerONE@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
They can fix it easily with dental bonding. It’s like enamel, a really hard resin or something. I wouldn’t worry.

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Dagwood222@lemm.ee ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
The enamel on a tooth is pretty thick. Unless you’re seeing blood, you can probably wait.

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frefi@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I’m sorry that happened. I’m no professional, but I think you’ll be ok to wait

Jim Carrey has a chipped tooth, which you can see in Dumber and Dumber, but he always wears a cap over it

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Nemo@midwest.social ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
A chunk fell off almost a decade ago and I’ve had zero problems.

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