How to Properly Treat Jagged Teeth

For those who find themselves with one or more jagged teeth that are scratching their mouths or causing them to hide their teeth behind their hand, you don’t have to worry about trying to live with something like this if you don’t want to. Whether a tooth has always been jagged, or it became broken or chipped, there are many ways your dental professional can make it even and straight again, and some of them can be found below.

Natural Shape of Teeth

Not everyone is blessed with neat, even pearly whites—teeth may come in crooked, and some, such as canines, can appear protruding and pointed. Any person can develop uneven teeth, but some rare cases exist that are due to extra cusps (pointed parts of teeth). These spikes growing from teeth are “talon cusps,” a name stemming from their likeness to eagle talons. They’re typically removed by removing a small area of enamel (or grinding it down) before sealing the tooth using desensitizing agents. Orthodontic treatment can also help benefit naturally pointed or crooked teeth.

Chipped and Broken Teeth

Chipping or breaking a tooth can leave it appearing jagged, but if a tooth nerve becomes exposed, a chip can be extremely painful. Getting hit in the mouth, biting something hard, or even a simple fall can all lead to chipped or broken teeth, but they can also break after being weakened by old, large fillings or cavities. If this happens, visit your dentist immediately to prevent any nerve damage when broken teeth become painful.

Jagged Tooth Treatment Options

The easiest treatment for jagged lines of teeth typically involves shaping existing enamel to produce a more consistent appearance. Smoothing unevenly shaped enamel, a process called contouring, involves lightly grinding a fraction of the enamel away. It's a relatively conservative dentistry treatment that often doesn't call for anesthesia.

As an alternative, when teeth are chipped, your dental professional may suggest bonding, which involves a small quantity of dental resin being added onto the tooth, thereby replacing missing pieces. This resin is then dyed and matched to the original enamel color to make it less noticeable, but bonded teeth may still become discolored in time.

The third option involves veneers, which are narrow porcelain shells meant to fit over entire teeth above the gum line, and they come in traditional forms or more minimally invasive forms. Fitting a traditional veneer requires the removal of some enamel, which is irreversible, whereas a less invasive veneer is so thin that the tooth can remain intact.

Sometimes, the initial damage that makes teeth jagged is severe to the point that a repair isn't an option. The best course of treatment in this case is extracting the tooth and then replacing it with a bridge, partial denture, or dental implant. Recovery time for the other procedures for repairing jagged teeth is marginal, but tooth extractions require at least one return visit to the dentist or more.

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