Accident Cases with Minor Dental Trauma
Dr. Susan Wells – January 2010

Many times dentists are called upon to help their patients deal with relatively small dental accidents or minor trauma to the teeth, gums, or other areas of the mouth covered by dentistry. But while the trauma or accident impact itself may be characterized as “minor” it almost always feels major because any injury to the dental area feels like a big deal and can have a huge impact on everything from dental health to self esteem and confidence.

There are dozens of common ways that teeth or gums get harmed because of an accident, and experienced dentists have literally seen it all. Sometimes a person will simply be drinking a soda from a bottle and get jostled, and before they know it they are dealing with the effects of a chipped or cracked front tooth that collided with the glass bottle. A person may be happily munching away on popcorn at a movie – or tasting olives or cherries – and suddenly an uncooked kernel of corn or a pit that was not completely removed can do damage to a molar.

Even simple, seemingly benign activities like chewing gum have been known to cause a tooth to crack or loosen, and there are thousands of trumpet players who have experienced a chipped tooth while playing on a brass instrument. Then there are the sports injuries from contact in sports like football, hockey, boxing, or martial arts. People lose teeth or have teeth broken playing baseball, rugby, basketball, and handball. Minor dental trauma can happen almost anywhere – during practically any activity.

One cause of accidental dental trauma that many older people now experience is cracking or splitting of teeth that have either lost their strength or have been compromised by the corrosion of old-fashioned amalgam cavity fillings. These fillings are no longer used, because they contain metals including toxic mercury – but they were routinely used in the past. Because they include metals like silver – which easily tarnishes in the mouth – they tend to increase in their size as they corrode and tarnish, which can act like a wedge to split open and crack an otherwise healthy tooth.

But although dental trauma is commonplace, the good news is that dentists have plenty of quick, easy, affordable solutions to whatever kind of dental trauma you might encounter. They can do things like polishing minor chips to make them look and feel smooth again. They can restore chipped, cracked, and broken teeth through a variety of treatments – and do many of these restorations in one single dental office visit. Sometimes dental trauma dislodges a filling or misaligns a tooth, but that is no problem for a skillful dentist. Even when a conspicuous front tooth is broken, stained, or chipped it can be restored as good as new or even better through procedures that range from whitening to capping and even include tooth veneer replacement.
Accidents happen, and they often cause minor trauma to the teeth, gums, or jaw. And while no dentist can prevent accidents, your dentist can prevent the impact and trauma from a dental accident from continuing, while he or she also takes therapeutic steps to improve your overall oral health and well being.