Why Are Pieces of My Teeth Breaking Off?

Natural teeth should last a lifetime. However, it is hardly the case for many people. Tooth loss occurs more times than not among both children and adults. Besides losing your natural teeth, cracks, chips, and breaks tamper with their structural framework. Broken teeth are becoming increasingly common, but few people understand the underlying causes of such dental issues.

What Causes Broken Teeth?

Broken teeth are mostly external damages to teeth enamels. However, sometimes a broken tooth can translate to nerve damage. Other oral problems, such as toothaches and hypersensitivity, are caused by nerve damage.

Various things can lead to broken teeth, including the following:

1. Dental trauma – an injury or accident is the most obvious way to break your tooth.
2. Hard foods – popcorn kernels, candies, and ice cubes can all lead to broken teeth.
3. Poor oral habits – if you bite your fingernails or open cans and bottles with your teeth, you are more likely to break your teeth or not.
4. Age – the older you get, the more fragile your teeth become. It makes them more susceptible to cracks.
5. Large dental restorations – like dental fillings, weaken your tooth, compromising its structural framework.
6. Dental cavities – if you have a tooth cavity, it may eventually lead to a broken tooth. The stakes are high when you have dental caries so that you can break your tooth even with mild dental trauma. It is the case since decay already weakens the tooth structure.
7. Bruxism – is a condition that features excessive teeth grinding. The pressure of grinding teeth against each other can cause them to wear down, chip, crack or break.

Which Teeth Are Most Likely to Fracture?

Many patients are likely to break one tooth as opposed to multiple. However, some teeth-breaking causes like teeth grinding and dental trauma can lead to multiple broken teeth. At Lawn Dental Center, we have discovered that patients are more likely to break their upper front teeth than the rest. The other teeth commonly broken are the mandibular molars, which are the back teeth of the lower jaw.

How Do You Know You Have a Broken Tooth?

They may lose a big chunk of your tooth enamel or small pieces when teeth break. For many patients, it is obvious when they have a broken tooth since they can visually notice the structural difference. It is usually when a sizeable portion of your tooth is missing.

However, if you do not notice teeth breaking off in pieces, you can consider the following signs:

1. Sensitivity to hot and cold foods
2. Rough edges of your tooth
3. Pain that comes and goes when you eat
4. Swelling around the tooth
5. Cracked lines on the tooth

How Do You Prevent Teeth from Breaking into Pieces?

The good news is that you can prevent your teeth from breaking off in pieces. You will need to be intentional about dental care.

Some of the tips that should help you overcome tooth fractures are:

1. Wear a mouthguard – if especially you are involved in high-contact sports, you need protective gear to protect your teeth from the trauma of the impact.
2. Treat bruxism – visit a dentist to treat your teeth grinding problem as it can cause far worse dental issues than broken teeth.
3. Get fluoride treatment – the treatment will strengthen your teeth, increasing their resistance to bacteria that cause dental cavities.
4. Get a dental crown – when you have a large tooth filling, a cosmetic dentist near you can recommend a dental crown to hold it in place. The tooth crown will also reinforce the strength of your natural tooth.
5. Maintain a clean mouth – although it may seem like oral hygiene and broken teeth are unrelated, they are. A clean mouth will disallow plaque from forming, a renowned cause of dental cavities.
6. Choose what you eat – avoid hard and crunchy foods as much as possible.
7. Quit bad habits – if you cannot let go of some bad habits yourself, you may need to visit a dentist in Chicago for habit counseling—Trade the bad oral habits with healthy ones that support excellent dental health.