Microdontia is a dental condition where a tooth or teeth grow in smaller than normal. Focal or localized microdontia is when the growth disorder only affects a single tooth. Even one incorrectly sized tooth can create bite issues, cause neighboring teeth to grow in out of place or tilted, and can cause a cosmetic concern when the tooth is near the front of the mouth.
Your general or cosmetic dentistry specialist can offer a few different dental treatment options for focal microdontia.
Dental Crown
A tooth with microdontia can either have a normal root that's only slightly smaller or can have such a small root that the tooth lacks stability and vitality. If the root is only slightly small and viable, your dentist might be able to treat your tooth's size issue with a dental crown.
The dental crown is a hollow artificial tooth made of metal, porcelain, or metal-backed porcelain that fits over the natural tooth. The dentist needs to grind down the exterior of the tooth to help with the binding process. Grinding can also help ensure that there will be sufficient space between the microdontia tooth and its neighbor once the crown is in place.
Veneers or Bond
If the tooth is substantially small or has suffered cracking or breaking damage, your dentist might want to file down more of the tooth than what is necessary for a dental crown. The size issue can then be corrected using veneers or bonds.
Veneers are closer in treatment to a dental crown since the all-porcelain lab-created cap is fused to the front of the filed tooth. A veneer essentially creates an entirely new tooth front so can fix a wider range of size problems.
Dental bonds are done with resin that is molded into place over the filed down tooth and then hardened with a special light. The application method means the bond gives a dentist greater control over crafting the tooth's shape. But the need for a solid backing material means bonds can't cover as many problems as veneers.
Dental Implant
If the microdontia tooth has a non-viable root, your dentist might recommend extracting the tooth and replacing the tooth with a dental implant. A dental implant combines a natural looking artificial crown and a jawbone-implanted metal root. The procedure involves quite a bit of waiting time as the bone heals around the root, but the end result is a natural looking and feeling tooth. Contact a dentist, such as John S. Lyon DDS, for more information.
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