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Chipped my tooth last week and super anxious

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noraxxx

Junior member
Joined
Dec 16, 2021
Messages
3
Location
Denmark
Hi all! Last week I had a horrible experience going out. I had a beer that I was drinking from, and then a girl close by snapped her hand really quickly up when dancing, making her elbow hit my bottle so that it hit my teeth. It didn't hurt that much in the moment, but then I went in the mirror and checked and was absolutely shocked by the chip in my teeth.

The morning after I managed to get in with a dentist. She took x rays and told me my teeth look fine (no nerve damage), but I had some craze/hairline cracks. She proceeded to bond the bottom of my tooth with composites. Now my teeth look fine, it is not noticeable at all. But the whole incident has made me so anxious. Now, six days later, my teeth are the only thing I think about. I am absolutely terrified of eating any hard foods, and I am constantly checking if something happened to the bonding. I have had numerous near panic attacks and cry all the time - right now it feels like this stupid incident will affect me for the rest of my life. I wish the chip was smaller so I did not have to bond it. I have had small chips before that I could just leave. But the tooth is too chipped to leave unfixed IMO. I am just terrified of the long term effects of bonding, its long time wear of the tooth etc.

Please see the attached photo taken the night of right after it happened. Have any of you had a similar chip as me - how is it keeping up? I am absolutely devastated, my teeth was one of my favorite features and now I feel on the verge of depression because of it. Please tell me this is just some temporary state of shock, I need some reassurance. Right now my front upper teeth feel sensitive - not really with warm and cold drinks, but it feels tight and sore (pretty similar to when I had braces and would get them tightened).

Also, please let me know if you have similar bonding as me - how did it wear over time and did it ever fall off? I love eating out with friends and just can't stand having these constant fears ? I am generally such a happy person, it is just the dentist that brings me the worst anxiety I have ever experienced in my life.
 

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Hi noraxxx,

sorry to read about your situation. It sounds like the tooth is fixed but you are still dealing with a lot of anxiety and devastating thoughts when it comes to it. May I ask you what this is about? Was this your first dental treatment and you do not trust it? Or is it the fear of having to see a dentist another time if anything chips again? Or maybe you are a person that usually worries a lot about small things that have to do with your appearance or health?

To me the chip looks very small, I wouldn't be able to tell that something happened. When you look at the picture, this is not how you smile or talk to people - nobody will ever be able to observe your teeth long enough to notice. So it is more about how you feel about yourself and what meaning have you created for the situation that occured.

I never had a chip myself, but know many people who have all kinds of restorations on their front teeth and are just fine. It may be a good idea not to crack nuts with your front teeth but other than that you should be fine.

All the best wishes
 
Hi, thanks for your reply. I do not really know what causes my distress regarding this. I am generally extremely self conscious, and can ponder and pull myself down over both current stuff and obstacles of the past. Regarding health issues, I think it stems from a serious of tough health issues within my family in the last years. It has been tough for me to process as well and has left me kind of always imagining worst case scenarios. I read many horror stories of chipped teeth requiring further invasive treatment like root canals, veneers, crowns etc after trying bonding.

I was never scared of the dentist during my teenage years, but I had a really bad experience a few years back when a the roots of one of my molars became infected after a cavity was not sufficiently cleaned by a previous (bad) dentist (something like that, I don’t know technical details exactly). It required surgery to remove the tip of the roots, which was a horrible experience that took months to heal. I was lucky to get a really good dentist to deal with my previous one’s bad work, but it required many many visits and the state of my molar in the beginning was very bad.

I generally put a lot of pressure on myself to look a certain way. Maybe the chip doesn’t look that obvious to you or others but to me it was all I could see when looking in the mirror. I dont know why I am like this and keep putting myself down for it ?
 
I chipped my front tooth as a child and had a filing put on. It did not stain or ever fall off.
 
Hi
I fell into a metal pole when I was around 10 and have had bonding on ever since on my two front teeth (I'm 27). The bonding I have from when I was younger has cracked and is discoloured but the product they use now is so much better. I have bonding from three and a half years go and it's near perfect. My chip is almost half my tooth so is much bigger but you can't even tell that I have had anything done. Just look after it and it should be fine - try drinking through a straw with anything that may stain.
 
Thank you, good to know. What happened for it to crack? And are you careful with what you eat etc. now?

I think I just need some getting used to with this bonding, I know it’s small in the grand scheme but having a foreign material on my tooth is still a strange feeeling to me.
 
It was just over time but honestly the material now are so different (the one that has cracked hasn't been replaced in around 15 years). My three year old one looks perfect - nothing has happened and it looks perfect. I have been careful i.e. I wouldn't bite into an apple but I think that is more because it happened so long ago that I'm just use to it! I've never had any issues with biting foods it may be a sub-conscience thing rather than an actual issue.

I promise it will feel better. Both of my front teeth only have around half left so it's much bigger than your composite. Also remember, people get this for simply cosmetic reasons so it's perfectly safe.
 
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