Intra-Oral Cameras – What Can You See? A Case Study – The Filling, The Crack and The Decay – Its Treatment
The cracks in the tooth are an issue as bacteria can invade the underlying tooth structure very quickly. It’s like an expressway! The decay needs to be cleaned out. There may be a crack and/or decay that may have weakened the base of a cusp (mountain-shaped anatomy) of the tooth. This may need to be reduced or even remove as they usually fracture off.
This happened to the tooth below. The top right corner cusp had a crack at its base, so it was reduced.
The camera also revealed a vertical crack on the right half of the tooth. This has compromised the tooth. The treatment is to seal the crack as well to reduce the cracked top right cusp. The final filling will protect the crack cusp and seal the tooth.
If the crack was all the way to the other side of the tooth, its prognosis is guarded.
A crown would ideally be placed to prevent further cracking.
Cracks are becoming more common as we are keeping flawed teeth longer. Heavy grinding of teeth even cracks unflawed teeth!
The mouth is a hostile environment!
Next in Series: Intra-Oral Cameras – What CanYou See? Bites and Grinds
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