Chipped teeth can vary in seriousness, but they always involve some damage to the enamel of your tooth.
Accidents are often traumatic events, even when they don’t result in injuries. The unexpected unfortunate event can affect your confidence and make you anxious and tired. When you also suffer injuries from an accident, you are dealing with a lot more on top of the mental distress. Sometimes injuries are not so serious but can become really uncomfortable. Such a case is when you chip your tooth as a result of a car accident for example.
Here is how to spot it and what to do about it.
Our adult daughter has cerebral palsy and requires being fully sedated when having anything done. The DAC was such a positive experience. Dr Hoffmann and his staff were kind and did great explaining things. As a mom, I had a lot of questions about how certain things would be done as usually she’s in her chair when getting examined at her local dentist and they had everything under control including transferring from her chair to the dentist chair and keeping her secured in the dentist chair as well as keeping her neck and legs comfortable. Many thanks to them!
Response from the owner:Thank you so much for your kind words. We’re grateful for your trust and happy to hear that you had such a positive experience with our team. Our goal is always to provide compassionate, attentive care in a safe and comfortable environment. We truly appreciate you taking the time to share your experience.
TWENTY YEARS! That is how long our special needs son has been seeing Dr Hoffman and his dedicated team! Our son suffers from an intellectual disability, is non-verbal, and is unable to cooperate for dental cleaning, x-rays, or other routine dental work. He requires general anesthesia. It is such a blessing to avoid a hospital setting just for dental work.
The team is always well staffed, friendly, personable and very professional. Every single year we have been supported by a deeply caring team who are dedicated to patients with a very wide range of disabilities and needs. They have shared useful dental advice and tools (3 sided toothbrushes, blocks to hold open their mouth for daily at-home care, etc.) which improved our son’s daily dental care. We always receive a call back the day after to check his recovery-even on weekends!
Highly recommended and so appreciative to have this team supporting our ever long road of raising a special needs son.
Response from the owner:Wow — thank you for sharing such a heartfelt review! We are so grateful for your trust and for allowing our team to be part of your family’s journey over the years. It means so much to us to know that our care and support have made a difference. We truly appreciate your kind words and recommendation!
We've been coming to Dr.Hoffman for twenty years. There's a reason we keep coming back! He's great. His staff is great. He's double boarded as an MD (Anesthesia) and DDS!!! Our son with special needs needs sedation for even a cleaning. You get what you pay for. He's expensive and... we know he's getting the best care!
Response from the owner:Thank you for trusting our team over the years and for your kind words about Dr. Hoffmann and our staff. We truly value your confidence in the care we provide!
Omg!! This place is Amazing! The people who work here are so very nice and understanding. I love this team
Response from the owner:Thank you so much for your kind words! We truly appreciate your support and are grateful to have such wonderful patients.
Searching for a new dental clinic is challenging for someone who has
dental anxiety, fear, and traumatic experiences in a dental chair. The staff and doctors at the Dental Anesthesia Center were immediately very welcoming. Dr. Thoms put together a very detailed plan to repair and replace the previous work that I had in the past that was now causing problems. Putting my faith in him was the best thing that I could have done for my situation. I am more than completely satisfied with all of the extensive dental work that I’ve had with Dr.Thoms. I had my fourth sleep dentistry experience yesterday and I’m very happy with my results. I highly recommend this practice and truly want to give them more than five stars! Thank you for giving me back my health and confidence.
Response from the owner:We know it isn’t always easy to find a dental office where you feel at ease, so your words mean the world to us. We’re so glad you feel comfortable with our team and truly appreciate your trust and recommendation!
Symptoms of a Chipped Tooth
Chipped teeth can vary in seriousness, but they always involve some damage to the enamel of your tooth, which is the most important protection you have against cavities, infections and other oral diseases. If the enamel is cracked or missing a part of it, your tooth is now exposed to the elements.
But chips and cracks can be so small that you don’t notice them from the beginning. If your head was tilted suddenly during the car accident, you might have hit your teeth together with such force that chipping occurred. If nothing is visible, but you have one of the following symptoms, you might have a chipped tooth.
List of symptoms for chipped teeth:
- Visible cracks or missing part of your enamel
- Soreness in your tongue, where it catches the chipped tooth
- Inflammation of the gums surrounding a tooth
- Uneven surface of the tooth, which you can notice with the tongue
- Pain in the tooth when biting on something
- Sensitivity to cold or hot foods and drinks in the tooth
If you have one or more of these symptoms, it’s a good idea to speak with your dentist. They will discover the cause of your discomfort and solve the problem properly. If left unchecked, a chip or crack in the tooth, no matter how small or painless it is, can lead to bigger problems.
Sedation Dentistry for Chipped Teeth
Even if a chipped tooth sounds like a very small problem usually, it can be a very serious issue, even an emergency. Underestimating its effect on your oral health or treating it lightly, will not do you any favors. And if the chipped tooth was a consequence of an accident, it can be a traumatic experience, especially since in most cases the front part of the smile is affected, which can damage the patient’s self-esteem.
For these reasons, you can comfortably ask your St. Louis sedation dentist what your sedation options are when treating your chipped tooth. Whether they will use laughing gas, oral sedation or IV sedation, you will decide together what the best option will be for your situation.
To speak with a St. Louis sedation dentist give us a call today at (314) 862-7844.
