A chipped tooth is nothing to worry about these days. Explore this article to learn what our dentists in Corning, NY, can do to restore your smile.

When Should You Take Immediate Action?

Examining Your Chipped Tooth

The first thing your dentist will have to do is examine your tooth. They need to get an idea of how serious your chipped tooth is. 

While you should go to the dentist for any tooth that you knowingly chipped, not all of them have to be taken out or operated on. You could end up doing very minor damage to the tooth but it is still worth getting it checked out. 

Once your dentist examines your tooth, they can determine the next course of action. If you need a procedure to fix this, then you will have to schedule another appointment. 

Minor Procedures

There are a few things that a dentist can do to fix your tooth without getting too invasive. 

If you are primarily concerned about cosmetic appearance, getting veneers may be the right move for you. This can at least attempt to hide any minor damage and stains or discoloring that your tooth may have suffered from. 

Or, you could go with dental bonding if you actually want to just fix the damage that occurred with your chipped tooth. What happens here is that the dentist will color it and shape it to look like the rest of your natural teeth.



A simple filling could also be a good solution for this problem with similar results described above. 

Root Canal

If you end up needing to have a procedure to deal with your chipped tooth, one thing your dentist may recommend is for you to have a root canal procedure.

It is important to note that this option is usually reserved for more serious chipped teeth cases. However, this can still be a good alternative to removing your tooth entirely. 

This is a pretty common procedure in the United States, as about 41,000 root canals are performed daily. 

How does this work? Instead of removing your entire tooth, your dentist will try to work on operating the root of your tooth. This can be something that was damaged, infected with bacteria, a risk to neighboring teeth, and more. 

This will only take an hour or two but you may feel some pain after the procedure for a couple of days. However, it does have a 98% success rate, so there is a good chance that things will go well. 

Once the root canal is done, there is one more thing that you have to do. You will have to go back to your dentist to have a crown installed on top of that tooth. 



Think of a crown as a shield. The purpose of this is to protect your chipped tooth and prevent it from having any further damage. 

Extracting Your Tooth

This is often seen as a last resort by dentists. However, if there is too much damage to your tooth or the whole thing becomes too much of a risk to your other teeth, a dentist may tell you that they have to remove the tooth. 

You may still have part of that tooth left in your mouth. In that situation, the dentist will recommend an extraction so that they can remove the tooth themselves. 

Some people may be concerned about their appearance after this. That can especially be the case if one of your front teeth has to get extracted. 

This is a fair concern but there is a good solution to save your appearance. That appearance is to have an implant inserted in the spot of your old chipped tooth. If your dentist does a good job, it will look as real as the rest of your teeth and it will fill a potentially big gap in your mouth. 



Getting an implant may even help keep your other real teeth in line in some scenarios. 

Get Dental Services

These are some of the things that dentists can do for you if you have a chipped tooth. Before you even get to the dentist, you need to know when it is urgent to get there as soon as possible. Then, a dentist can examine your tooth. 

They may tell you no work needs to be done. However, if there is work to be done, you may have to get a root canal or an extraction. 

Do you need a dentist in Corning, NY? Request an appointment with us today.