Monday, July 4, 2011

How much does it cost to fix a chipped front tooth?

I am in the Louisiana area and a dog jumped on me and chipped my front tooth this morning. I don't have dental insurance so I am just wondering how much this is going to cost.
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Fees for fixing a chipped tooth vary depending on 2 things - 1. Area of the country and 2. extent of the damage. I am a dentist in the Northeast. Fees in my area are a bit higher than where you live. Fixing a simple chip here may run 100 - 150 for a bonded resin filling. This will match nicely, but over time it will stain and tend to wear and require replacement after a few years. The extent of the damage is also important. A small chip can be easily bonded. Larger breaks may require a laminate veneer or even crown (cap). This can run around 1000 in my region. Also please keep in mind that anything hitting your tooth hard enough to break a piece of it off (tooth enamel is the hardest substance in the body) may also cause damage to the tooth's nerve inside the tooth. A large chip may be close to the nerve and problems are seen immediately. A smaller chip, even though it may not be painful or symptomatic now, can result in slow nerve death which may require root canal treatment sometime in the future. The dentist should explain this to you. So, remember, it is possible that you can repair a small chip in the tooth for relatively little cost, but sometime in the future - and it could be years later - the tooth's nerve could die from the trauma and require root canal treatment. I hope this helps you. Good luck
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