I visited my dental hygienist today, the same practice I’ve been using for a few years but a new hygienist worker.
This evening, the tip of my tongue has noticed something different about the top of one of my bottom incisors (front middle teeth pair). So I got out my microscope and had a look and there’s a chip in the tooth. While I can’t be 100% it was done today, I’m almost certain it was since the bottom incisors are next to the tip of one’s tongue, and so one gets to know their feel pretty well. It feels quite noticeable with my tongue.
So:
Has the hygienist chipped my tooth? Looking online I see conflicting reports about whether this is possible. I’m not a dentist, but the chip’s sharp, unrounded/smoothed edges lead me to think it’s fresh.
What should I do regarding the dental practice? I think that, at the very least, I’ll email a photo to them and ask for their comment.
Does this chip cause extra risk of vulnerability to the tooth? Does it need remedial care?
If it doesn’t need remedial care for the sake of the tooth’s protection, can anything be done to improve its feel (to my tongue, mainly)? To smooth the surrounding enamel would require removing a lot of it to get down to its depth. Alternatively, can it be filled in?
Here’s a picture of the tooth (the black dots are on the camera lens, not my teeth ).
If it were me I’d just go in and ask the dental office to take a look and see what they say. And I doubt if the hygienist chipped your tooth unless you were anesthetized at the time.
Dentist here. I doubt she chipped your tooth. In 29 years I’ve never seen it happen. Pop off a crown or a filling, yes that happens. Also the location of the chip isn’t in a location that would likely to have tarter that needed to be scaled. More likely you did it when biting on something. It doesn’t need to be restored. Smoothed yes if it is bothering your tongue. If you want to ask them about it by all means do but it probably isn’t worth going back for. One or two **GENTLE **strokes with an emery board will take care of it. Future damage to the tooth is very unlikely. You are more likely to have problems due to the wear in the incisal edges of the teeth that have worn through the enamel and into the dentin. Keep them clean though and even that shouldn’t be any big deal.
I am not a dentist but maybe it already had a micro-fracture that she just happened to push over the edge with her tools. My left front tooth developed many very tiny chips for years seemingly from nothing. Then, I was just sitting at my desk at work one day and I felt something like a large piece of grit in my mouth. I went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. My front tooth had just chipped spontaneously and created a V-shape at the bottom. I wasn’t eating, chewing gum or even talking when it happened.
It was very noticeable but not terrible so I lived with it for a few years while it developed even more small chips again and again like a rock being turned into sand by erosion. That tooth was just faulty in some way and was determined to commit suicide very slowly. I finally had it ground down to a stem and replaced with a porcelain veneer that is indistinguishable from my other front tooth but much more durable. Problem solved.
There was staining on the whole rear side of the tooth. I don’t know whether the actions involved in stain removal cleaning are different to those used in plaque removal cleaning (with regard to the tools being used or areas being scraped). I do think the whole of the rear of the tooth got some tool action, though.
I did read that it might be possible that some pre-existing fracture or weakness could get exacerbated in the hygienist’s work, although I don’t suppose that they can be apportioned blame for that.
It’s also possible that the cleaning process removed the thin coating of whatever gunk had accrued on the tooth - the rear of the teeth always feel nice and smooth after a session - and this has therefore made the chip feel more noticeable to my tongue. In which case, it should diminish as the coating starts to build up again!
I might send the photo to the practice saying that I’d noticed the chip after the cleaning and was wondering if it needed addressing (without implying they did it). Or I’ve got to have a check-up with the dentist soon so maybe I’ll see how it goes and discuss it then. I’ll sleep on it.
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