Yesterday I chipped one of my two front teeth. I was repairing my son’s beloved stuffed monkey, Big Wheel, and I stupidly pulled on a stuck needle with my teeth.
(The monkey survived surgery just fine. He is recovering nicely at home.)
I’m wondering what I should do about it. It doesn’t hurt although the edge is sharp, and I worry about doing further damage if I bite into something hard. Also, although Sir Monkeypants assures me that it’s barely noticeable, I feel self-concious about it. Should I dash to my dentist for repairs? If so, what kind of repair?
Keep in mind that I have crappy luck with dentists, at least here in Ottawa. My first in-town dentist convinced me to having a “polishing” for my fillings, which caused them all to immediately loosen and require replacement. I was pretty peeved so I ditched him. Dentist #2 replaced all my fillings, but one of them started to hurt so much that, after two more replacements, I finally went for a root canal. Turned out that tooth was cracked, and I’m not sure whether Dentist #1 or Dentist #2 was responsible.
A couple of years ago Dentist #2 retired so I started seeing Dentist #3. He discovered one of my fillings was chipped, which personally I think was caused by the hygenist, who was a little too enthusiastic with the plaque scraping. Anyway, he replaced that filling, which immediately started to hurt, and I was such a huge baby about it (as Sir Monkeypants can attest) that I had to go in for an emergency appointment that night to have it filed down. Now Sir Monkeypants calls him “The Butcher.”
Hm…do I really want The Butcher fixing my newly chipped tooth? Won’t my future modelling career be in jeopardy either way?
TurtleHead 
Wow… you’ve had some bad dentist luck. I know that you and I shared one of those three dentists and that was the worst dentist I’ve ever had. She continually tried to do unnecessary work and one of the filling I got was a dud (started to hurt like yours). Since switching to my new guy, a very short soft-talker, I’ve been quite happy. Plus, the new office has this little headset thing that lets you watch movies.
But anyways, don’t be scared off by your chip… it’s ten times harder to screw something like that up than a root canal or filling. I’ve had a few chips here and there and I was in and out of the office without any freezing in a few minutes. I think it is kind of important to do, though, since you have exposed a part of your tooth that isn’t protected by enamel.
Yup, bad luck indeed! Your teeth are a precious commodity, so don’t be afraid to try someone else. Taking someone’s recommendation is the best way to go. I think I emailed you a great dentist who specialises in children’s teeth a few months ago, and I’m very happy with my dentist.
My dentist is very Dr.Ramsay-esque. Socially abrupt, very no nonsense. He gives me all the info I need but never pushes any ideas on me. (Sometimes I wish he would be a little more opinionated only because I suck at making decisions. He did make the call for me about my dead tooth’s cap when I asked him to do so, so that’s good.)
If you want his details (or the details of that guy in Kanata), just let me know.
I agree with : even if the chip is small you should probably have it repaired so that the tooth is protected.