What Causes Teeth to Break?

Stresses over time can weaken the tooth, causing it to break. If you have large silver and mercury fillings, these can expand and contract with temperature changes, weakening tooth structure by creating small fractures. It’s important to restore these areas with a crown or onlay (a bonded porcelain filling) before they break. Waiting until your tooth breaks can cause an excessive amount of tooth structure to break. You can lose more tooth structure or possibly need a root canal.

Grinding and clenching is another stress that causes teeth to break, especially when most of the back teeth rub against each other. The excessive side forces on the cusps, or bumps, on the back teeth create fractures in the teeth that eventually give way. A bite adjustment and/or a custom professionally made bite guard can prevent this. A dentist trained to spot TMJ problems can diagnose before it’s a problem. Tooth pain is uncomfortable and tooth wear can be an expensive problem to fix. A regular six-month scheduled check-up can help you to be sure that potential problems are caught before it they become inconvenient, painful and expensive.

Stacey Sparkman Hall, D.D.S.: Dr. Stacey Hall brings her unique outlook on dental care and her personable optimism to the Williamsburg Center for Dental Health. With nine years of solid dental expertise as a dentist in Williamsburg, she decided in early 2011 to branch out and open her own local practice. After completing her undergraduate degree from Virginia Tech in 1998, Dr. Hall graduated from VCU’s MCV School of Dentistry in 2002, receiving her D.D.S. She is a member of the Academy of General Dentistry, the American Dental Association, and was awarded member fellowship to the International Congress of Oral Implantology in 2008. She leads the elite Tidewater Dawson Study Club and is a scholar with the interntaionally renowned Dawson Academy. As a Dawson ambassador, Dr. Hall also assists in the training of students in the Dawson Academy. Stacey and her husband Michael have been blessed with three beautiful girls, Lanie, Gracie and Abbie. She is a loyal Virginia Tech Football fan, and enjoys Bible study and missions work.