A chipped tooth is one of the most common problems we treat, and most are repaired in a single appointment. Dr. Wes Prepchuk has placed thousands of fillings and crowns over the past decade and treats chipped, cracked, and broken teeth at our clinic on Midpark Way.

Enamel is the hardest substance in the human body, but it is also brittle. A hard bite, a fall, or years of grinding will chip it. Getting the tooth looked at quickly matters, because a chip that exposes dentin can turn into sensitivity, decay, or a crack that costs you the tooth.

Call (403) 201-7999. We open at 7:00 am and stay open until 8:30 pm Monday through Thursday.

Having a chipped tooth can be quite a problem. It can prevent you from smiling, talking confidently, and eating comfortably. Fortunately, most cases of chipped teeth are not serious. However, if you have a larger chip on your tooth involving more tooth structures, you are at risk for infection and possibly losing your tooth.

The good news is, here at Midpark Dental Clinic, we have a comprehensive range of treatment options to save your tooth and revitalize your smile effectively. So, if you have a chipped tooth, no matter the size, visit us at our Calgary SE clinic as soon as possible, and we will do our best to make you smile again.

A piece of the tooth has broken away. Small chips involving only enamel often cause no pain at all. Larger chips expose the dentin underneath and cause sensitivity to cold, heat, or sweet food.

A crack runs through the tooth without a piece breaking off. Cracks can be confined to enamel or extend into the dentin, the pulp, or the root. Pain when you release a bite, rather than when you bite down, is the classic sign, and a cracked tooth needs different treatment from a chipped one.

A larger portion of the tooth is gone, often exposing the pulp. This is usually painful and needs same-day attention.

The whole tooth, root included, has come out of the socket. This is a true emergency and what you do in the first thirty minutes decides whether it can be saved. Steps are below.

• Decay that has weakened the tooth from the inside
• Biting hard objects: ice, popcorn kernels, olive pits, pens
• Grinding or clenching, especially at night
• An uneven bite that loads one tooth harder than the rest
• Contact sport played without a mouthguard
• A fall, an accident, or a blow to the face
• Large old fillings that leave little natural tooth around them

Time is the single biggest factor. A permanent tooth put back within 30 minutes has a far better chance than one put back after an hour.

1. Pick the tooth up by the crown, the chewing surface. Never touch the root.
2. If it is dirty, rinse it briefly in milk or saline. Do not scrub it and do not hold it under running water, which damages the cells that let it reattach.
3. If it is an adult tooth, put it back in the socket straight away and bite gently on a clean cloth to hold it.
4. If you cannot reinsert it, store it in milk, in saline, or tucked inside your cheek. Never in plain water.
5. Call us immediately on (403) 201-7999.

Do not reinsert a child’s baby tooth. Pushing it back can damage the permanent tooth developing underneath. Call us and we will advise.

Bring any fragments with you, even small ones.

Dr. Prepchuk assesses the tooth on X-ray to see how deep the damage goes. The right repair depends on how much tooth structure is left and whether the pulp is involved, not on how the chip looks.

A minor chip involving only the enamel surface. If the edge simply feels sharp, reshaping may be all it needs: the enamel is smoothed and recontoured, a procedure called enameloplasty. It takes minutes and needs no freezing. It does remove a small amount of enamel permanently, so we only do it where the shape is genuinely improved.

Where the chip needs filling rather than smoothing, bonding is the answer. Tooth-coloured composite resin is layered onto the tooth, shaped, and hardened with a curing light. Bonding removes little or no healthy enamel, which makes it the most conservative option available, and it is finished in one visit.

More enamel is gone and the dentin underneath is exposed, which is why these often feel sensitive.

On a front tooth, a porcelain or composite veneer covers the visible surface and restores the shape. Porcelain veneers require removing a thin layer of enamel permanently, so we will tell you when bonding would achieve a similar result without that trade.

On a back tooth, a crown is usually the better answer because it has to withstand full chewing force. We place porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns where durability matters most, and all-ceramic crowns where appearance does.

A cracked tooth is treated differently from a chipped one. A filling or bonding placed in a cracked tooth can wedge the crack wider under biting force, while a crown holds the tooth together by covering the cusps. That is why cracks generally need a crown even when the tooth looks intact.

If the crack extends into the root, the tooth usually cannot be saved and we will tell you honestly rather than spending your money on a restoration that will fail.

When the break reaches the pulp, the nerve is exposed and root canal treatment is needed before the tooth can be rebuilt. The infected pulp is removed, the canals are cleaned, shaped, and sealed, and a crown is placed over the top to protect what remains.

Dr. Prepchuk has completed hundreds of root canals and treats molars. Dr. Krizza Flores treats front teeth and premolars.

A repaired tooth will chip again if the cause is not addressed. A custom night guard, made from an impression of your own teeth, protects both the repair and the teeth around it from grinding. It is not the same as a sports mouthguard, which is made thicker to absorb impact during contact sport. We make both.

It depends on the repair. Reshaping is the least expensive option and a crown the most, with bonding and veneers in between.

Midpark Dental follows the Alberta Dental Association Fee Guide, which publishes a standard price for every procedure in the province, so you can compare our fee against the published provincial rate. We bill your insurance directly and submit a predetermination for larger treatment, so you know your out-of-pocket cost before we begin.

A small chip with no pain can usually wait a few days. A chip with sharp pain, bleeding, a visible pink or red centre, or a tooth that has become loose needs same-day treatment. Call (403) 201-7999 and tell reception what happened.

No. Enamel does not regenerate. A chip stays chipped until it is repaired, and the exposed surface is more prone to decay and further breakage.

Reshaping takes minutes. Bonding is usually a single appointment of 30 to 60 minutes. A crown or veneer takes two appointments, or more if the tooth needs root canal treatment first.