Broken Front tooth 🥹

[Nm.]

Thank you

Edited November 28, 2022 by Lovinglife123

[rebcoola]

I broke my front teeth badly at age 12.  I have crowns and they have been great.  I just had them redone in the last couple years. Once every 20yrs is pretty good.  Idk anything about re-attachment and if their are advantages but it's been a non issue in my life.

[*****]

I broke a front tooth as a young child, and they repaired it with a resin, even back then. But they didn't re-attach the fragment. I have had no problem with it over the years and no one could ever tell. I had it replaced only once,  maybe because of discoloration? I don't remember it ever breaking. They do a good job of matching tooth color. 

[itsheresomewhere]

That sounds like it was not an option for reattachment.  Like the previous poster,  my BF has a crown for her front tooth  due to a tooth verses bike handlebars accident. She has been happy with her crown and no issues.  Her was broken into multiple pieces and near the gum line so reattachment was not an option. 

[lauraw4321]

I doubt reattachment is an option or they would have suggested it at the first appointment. My DD did the same and the treatment was the same. They explained that her tooth is now just for smiling - not biting or chewing. They warned me to expect to have to replace it frequently, but she’s been really good with it and hasn’t had to replace it. 
 

They said a permanent crown wouldn’t be an option for several year (I think they said when she was 22 or so?). 
 

hugs. I know it’s hard. DD was devastated but it’s a non-issue now. 

[historically accurate]

I skateboarded when I was 12 and sliced off my front tooth about half way up. They did the resin thing - I had to have it replaced when I was 17 (I tried opening a chips bag with my front teeth) and I now have a crown (put on when I was about 30). I doubt they can reattach or they would've done that first. 

DD knocked her baby tooth out around age 3 - they tried reattachment, but it didn't work. Since it was a baby tooth, we just ignored it. She did have to have braces at age 7 since that accident had knocked the adult tooth out of alignment.

My brother had a kid throw a rock at the bus stop when he was a kid. He has had loads of trouble with his (currently has a "flipper" and is saving for an implant), but it destroyed the root.

We're a very accident-prone family...

[alisoncooks]

My brother broke both his front teeth at about that age. He got whacked by a car door and both teeth broke on a “v” shape from the top middle down. 😱

The dentist reattached one and used bonding material to craft the second one. He’s 40 now and they’ve lasted well. Some maintenance over the years but it’s barely noticeable (a very faint line on one of the teeth). 

[wendyroo]

One of my front teeth got broken in half diagonally during a roller skating accident when I was 6. We had the broken piece of tooth, and went to the dentist immediately, but there was never any talk of reattaching it.

I got a cap put on at the time...which fell off periodically throughout my elementary years. I got a crown put on when I was 10ish.

The biggest issue I had with the tooth over the years was root damage. I had my first root canal on the tooth (due to pain and inflection) shortly after getting the first crown. I got a second root canal a few years later. And then, as a young adult, I got both a new crown and a surgical root canal.

That carried me over from age ~20 to ~40. But over the years the crown got wigglier and wigglier since there was very little root holding it in. Last year I went through the long, expensive process of getting the tooth remnant removed and replaced with an implant. Theoretically this should last for the rest of my life.

[Harriet Vane]

My ds had a similar accident when he was 9 or 10. His teeth broke across the middle and there was nerve damage. Eventually he had to have two root canals. They were not able to re-attach, and my understanding is that there is only a small window for re-attachment right after the break. The best way to preserve the tooth fragment is to carry it in his own mouth (like holding it in a cheek pocket) or to place in some milk. So I doubt it can be reattached BUT I'm not a dentist, so I'd urge you to ask asap. 

We did get my ds porcelain caps when he was 18 or 19 and they look great. 

Edited November 28, 2022 by Harriet Vane

[Farrar]

My brother broke his like three times. Always a pain, but dentists always had a new fix.

Get Smile by Raina Telgemeier for him! Yes, it's a "girl" book, but that's around the age my boys loved it. I feel like all kids with dental angst should read it.