Loose front teethLoose front teeth
A loose front tooth usually points to the bone and ligament that hold it. Gum disease may have broken down the bone, biting force may be concentrated on one tooth, or a blow may have stretched the ligament. The longer a loose tooth is put off, the less bone there is left to save. At Wonjin Dental Clinic, we check how much bone is left before the shape.
On this page
First, we look at the cause
Two cases can look the same and still need different treatment if the cause is different. If you fix only the shape and leave the cause, the same problem usually comes back in the same place.
If a front tooth is loose, does it have to come out?
It depends on how much bone is left. If there is bone left, we treat the tooth to keep it, but that amount shrinks while you put it off.
What holds a tooth in place is bone. As gum disease progresses, this bone breaks down, and the tooth loosens as the area holding it shrinks. Because this happens without pain, by the time a tooth is loose, a lot of bone has often already been lost. Lost bone does not come back on its own, so in this case the timing of treatment matters especially.
This is when
The tooth is loose, your gums bleed when you brush, and you have bad breath. The spaces between your teeth have widened, and your teeth look longer.
Then
First we stop the progression. We keep the teeth that can be kept. If a tooth is already putting the teeth next to it at risk, we tell you that plainly.
What we look at first
If only one tooth is loose, is that gum disease too?
Maybe not. If biting force is concentrated on that one tooth, it can loosen even without gum disease.
When the upper and lower teeth meet out of position, one tooth takes on force meant for the others too. The bone around that tooth breaks down under the excess force, and the result looks similar to gum disease. Grinding multiplies this force several times.
This is when
Only one tooth is noticeably loose, and when you bite it feels like that tooth touches first. Sometimes only that tooth is sensitive.
Then
Sometimes adjusting the bite height very slightly is enough to help. It is the treatment that changes the tooth the least, so we check it first.
What we look at first
My front tooth has been loose since I hit it.
The impact may have stretched the ligament that holds the tooth, or cracked the root. It is best to have it checked the same day.
A tooth is not fixed directly to the bone. It hangs from a thin ligament. A blow stretches this ligament and the tooth loosens, and usually it firms up again once it is held in place. But if the root has broken or the tooth has been pushed out of position, the treatment is different, and it gets harder to put right as time passes.
This is when
You remember the day you hit it, and it has been loose since. It hurts when you bite, and the tooth may look out of line or a different length from its neighbors.
Then
We check the root with an X-ray first. If only the ligament is stretched, we splint the tooth to its neighbors, and we recheck over time whether the nerve is still alive.
What we look at first
My front tooth is loose and there is pus on the gum.
Inflammation has formed at the root tip. It looks like gum disease, but the cause is inside the tooth, so the treatment is different.
When the nerve dies from an old injury or a deep cavity, inflammation that starts inside the tooth breaks down the bone at the root tip. With less bone holding it, the tooth feels lifted and loose, and as pus drains through the gum, something like a pimple appears and goes away. Once the cause is treated, the lost bone can fill back in.
This is when
Only that tooth is loose, feels lifted and looks dark. A small pus pocket on the gum keeps appearing and going away.
Then
We treat the inflammation inside the tooth first. Treating only the gums as if it were gum disease will not heal it. Afterward, we crown the weakened tooth to support it.
What we look at first