Cracked Tooth Sheet

Patient Education: Cracked Tooth Syndrome

You may have a commonly occurring problem in one of your teeth.

Teeth may crack when subjected to stress of chewing hard foods, ice, popcorn, or biting on an unexpected hard object. Teeth with or without restorations may exhibit this problem, but teeth restored with typical tooth-colored or silver filling material are most susceptible.

Symptoms

1. Pain on chewing
2. Pain on cold application
3. Unsolicited pain (leakage of sugar into crack)
4. No clinical or radiographic evidence of crack
5. No dental decay
6. Difficulty in determining which tooth is actually cracked (referred type of pain)

Treatment of Cracked Tooth

Simple Crack

The majority of cracked teeth (9 out of 10) can be treated by placement of a crown on the tooth. When the tooth is prepared for the crown and a temporary restoration is placed, the pain usually leaves immediately. The crown will be placed at your next appointment and the condition will be solved.

Complex Crack

Approximately 1 out of 10 teeth crack into the nerve or pulp of the tooth. If pain persists after placement of the crown, you may have a crack into the pulp of the affected tooth. Please call the office. The tooth may require endodontics (root canal therapy).