Are you one of the many people who put off visiting the dentist? Maybe you associate the dentist with painful experiences in the past, or perhaps you think that your teeth will look after themselves. Whatever your reasons may be you must overcome them and take your place in the dentists' chair. The dentist plays an important role in maintaining your dental hygiene and preventing gum disease or tooth decay. If you would appreciate help finding the right dentist to care for your teeth and help you feel comfortable while undergoing treatment the articles here will help you do that.
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4 Ways to Repair a Chipped Molar
Felecia Brewer
Your molar teeth come under tremendous pressure while you chew food. And this means that sometimes, especially when eating hard foods like nuts or boiled candy, molars can chip. Fortunately, if you have chipped a molar, you have several options to choose from when it comes to molar repair.
1. Recontouring (Enameloplasty)
For minor chips, such as when you have lost a cusp from a molar, recontouring is a quick and easy fix. To recontour a damaged molar, a dentist simply removes a tiny amount of the damaged area and then polishes it so that it resembles the rest of the tooth in colour and shape. But this treatment is only useful if you have lost a small amount of tooth due to a chip.
2. A Tooth-Coloured Filling
Tooth-coloured fillings, also known as composite bonding, are useful if you have a minor chip on a back tooth. And if you don't want to compromise your smile with an amalgam filling, tooth-coloured fillings blend in with your other teeth. If you have lost a cusp on a back tooth, then a white filling might be just right.
3. A Metal Filling
If the chip has caused enough damage to extend into the tooth, then a metal filling is probably best for a molar tooth. Amalgam or metal fillings are slightly stronger than composite fillings, and this makes them ideal for molars with slight to moderate damage in the form of chips or cracks.
Although these fillings are visible when you smile, they last longer than white fillings do, and they offer more durability.
4. An Onlay
In one form, onlays are similar to dental fillings because they are sometimes made from similar materials, such as composite resin. Just as the name suggests, onlays sit on a damaged tooth, covering a wide portion of the tooth. Onlays may also extend into a tooth. If you have lost a large piece of the surface of your molar, such as on the biting surface, an onlay can cover that area.
Similarly, onlays can also be similar to dental crowns when they are made of porcelain. Porcelain dental crowns sit over the damaged portion of a tooth to protect it. And a porcelain onlay can provide even more protection and longevity than a composite onlay can. The main difference between porcelain onlays and porcelain dental crowns is that onlays are smaller.
If you have chipped a molar, one of the aforementioned dental care treatments will help to restore that molar's function and appearance.
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