Expert: Lawrence Spindel DDS, www.lspindeldds.com - 2/1/2009

Question
When my daughter was about eight years old she chipped one of her adult front teeth.Just a small crack on the bottom left corner. I took her to the dentist but they said the crack was too small and the crown or filling would come off in a few days. Will a small crack ever grow back? What should I do to repair her tooth? I've called many other dentist, but they all say the same. Thanks.

Answer
Dear Lindsay,

Although the dentists are correct that a small chip will not grow back, sometimes the appearance of the front teeth can change.  Wear of the edges can, over time, make small chips seem less noticeable.

Also Bonding is an option for most chipped teeth. Bonding can and should be used to repair small chips on the edges. It doesn't require local anaesthesia .  These repairs look good, but can come off and can need to be redone.

I have enclosed a link to the photo gallery on my website. If you copy and paste this link into your browser, you will see that the third set of photos from the top shows a repair of chipped central incisors that was done with bonding.

http://www.lspindeldds.com/gallery

I hope this information is helpful and please feel free to contact me again with any future dental questions.