Metal Mouth Message Board

Well, ive always had a minor chip in the corner of one of my two front teeth and it never bothered me as it isnt noticeable. Although, since getting braced im becomming obsessed about it and keep thinking that it is getting bigger. Now, has anyone on here had a tooth shaven down to get rid of a chip? If so does it work or will it make the chip look bigger and change the shape of my teeth?

Im just a bit apprehensive about getting it filed out as it will make the chip look bigger than it already is, do you see what i mean?

Many Thanks

I'm going through the same thing. I hope someone can post a reply. thanks for posting.

Same, i hope someone replys soon? So how big is your chip, is it noticeable? Mine is only noticeable when i go up close in the mirror...i still dont like it if you see what i mean!

I've got a tiny chip too which I've had for years after biting down on a raspberry pip!
I think once we get braces we spend so much time looking at our teeth that we get paranoid about minor imperfections we never really bothered about before.

I know i've got a lot more conscious of this chip lately, so I too look forward to any helpful responses!

I have a chip too but I can't have it filed down because my front tooth is already too short . I have to go for bonding. I think it is more noticeable because my teeth are actually straight now so the chip shows up much more.

Same here. I have a small chip in one of my upper front teeth. When the teeth were closer together, it wasn't really noticeable. Now that I am a bit "gap toothed", it's more noticeable.

I'm waiting to see if the gap will be closed further down the track. If not, I guess I'll just live with it.

I have a rather large chip on the corner of one of my bottom middle teeth. My ortho told me that he could shave it down, but I'm really worried that the teeth will look really short, or uneven , it goes way below where he could make an even line across. (that tooth is actually a little taller than the others, but the chip still cuts lower than the other teeth.)

I've looked into this with my dentist, and he said he could do some bonding on that tooth, although my ortho told me that bonding doesn't stay on too well on tooth corners.

I'm hoping I can get it all evened off....

I just had my top 2 fronts shaved down 3 weeks ago due to chips. It was a piece a cake and they look great. Unless it is a major chip they shave them (contour) It's painless and fast so no need to worry

Dear Newmetal,
I suppose your ortho/dentist can make the best call on this.

For example, I have a number of slightly chipped front teeth from bruxism that my doc will file down when I'm done with braces.

But a few months ago, my husband chipped his front tooth (faulty car seat!) and had it bonded immediately in order to prevent any further splitting. In his case, they would have had to shave down all of his front teeth to make it even so bonding was the best choice and also maintained the structural integrity of the tooth. The result looks great.

I suppose it depends on how big the chip is?

You can have bonding done and if you are careful (try not to bite into things too much) it can hold up pretty well.