Blog

Chipped, Cracked or Broken Tooth: Repair Options and When It’s an Emergency

📍 28 Chalet Hill, Bordon, Hampshire GU35 0TQ | 🚗 Off-Street Parking | 📞 01420 476745

When a tooth breaks, the hardest part is often deciding how worried to be. Is it something that can wait for an appointment, or do you need help today? This guide gives you five quick questions to work that out, explains what happens if a damaged tooth is left, and sets out the repair options at Chalet Hill Dental & Implants in Bordon.

Short answer: A small chip is rarely an emergency and can be smoothed or repaired at a booked appointment. A broken tooth, severe pain, swelling, bleeding or a knocked-out tooth needs urgent dental advice. Repairs range from polishing and composite bonding to veneers, crowns and root canal treatment, depending on how much of the tooth is damaged.

Five Questions to Work Out How Urgent It Is

Go through these in order, and stop at the first “yes.”

• 1. Have you had a head or facial injury, or are you struggling to breathe or swallow, or is swelling spreading towards your eye or neck, or can’t you stop the bleeding?
  Yes → Call 999 or go to A&E. Don’t wait for a dental appointment.
• 2. Has an adult tooth been knocked out, or pushed out of position?
  Yes → This is an emergency. Hold the tooth by the crown, not the root. Rinse it very briefly in milk or water, without scrubbing. Push it gently back into the socket if you can, and bite on a clean cloth. If you can’t, keep it in milk. Call us immediately, or NHS 111 if we’re closed. Never replant a baby tooth, as it can damage the adult tooth underneath. The NHS gives similar advice (NHS inform: broken or knocked-out tooth).
• 3. Do you have severe or throbbing pain, swelling, a pimple on the gum or a bad taste?
  Yes → Call us straight away, as these can signal an infection.
• 4. Is a tooth broken, or sensitive to hot, cold or biting, or is a sharp edge cutting your tongue or cheek?
  Yes → Call us as early as you can and tell us it’s urgent. Cover any sharp edge with sugar-free gum or dental wax, keep any broken piece in milk, and chew on the other side.
• 5. Is it a small chip with no pain?
  Yes → Book an appointment in the next few days. It isn’t an emergency, but don’t ignore it.

While you wait: rinse gently with warm water, hold a cold compress to your cheek if it’s swelling, eat soft food, and take pain relief such as paracetamol or ibuprofen, following the pack instructions, if suitable for you. Please don’t use household glue or put aspirin against the gum.

Please check our contact page for current opening hours. If we’re closed, call NHS 111 for urgent dental advice.

What Happens If You Leave It?

A chipped or cracked tooth won’t repair itself, because enamel can’t regrow. Waiting can mean:

• A crack spreading, turning a simple repair into a crown or root canal treatment
• Decay getting into the exposed part of the tooth
• Infection if the nerve is exposed, which can cause severe pain and swelling
• A sharp edge repeatedly cutting your tongue or cheek
• The tooth becoming harder or impossible to save

The sooner a damaged tooth is seen, the more of it we can usually keep.

The Repair Ladder: From Least to Most Involved

Your dentist will examine the tooth, check your bite and usually take an X-ray to look at the root and the surrounding bone. Cracks can be hard to see, and may not show on X-rays, so an examination matters, even when the pain comes and goes. We’ll use the least involved repair that will work.

NHS or Private?

Fillings, crowns and root canal treatment can be provided on the NHS for patients who qualify, while cosmetic repairs such as bonding and veneers are private. We’ll explain your options and costs before any treatment starts. See our NHS treatment page and fees page.

Why Do Teeth Chip and Crack?

• Biting on hard foods, ice, pen lids or fingernails
• Falls, knocks and sports injuries, including a tumble on a walk, ride or run
• Teeth grinding or clenching, especially at night
• Large old fillings that weaken the tooth around them
• Tooth decay that has hollowed out the tooth
• Sudden temperature changes
• Age, as teeth become more brittle over time

Protecting Your Teeth

• Wear a mouthguard for contact sports
• Ask about a night guard if you grind your teeth (see our teeth grinding page)
• Don’t use your teeth as tools
• Have old fillings checked at your regular dental examination
• Treat decay early

Children’s teeth often chip and break at play. Always have a damaged baby tooth checked. See our children’s dentistry page.

Nervous?

Pain and worry often come together. Tell us when you call, and we’ll go at your pace. We offer sedation options for suitable patients.

Find Us in Bordon

Chalet Hill Dental & Implants is at 28 Chalet Hill, Bordon GU35 0TQ, close to the A325 and A3, and near Woolmer Forest and the Bordon Inclosure. There are two dedicated patient spaces at the front of the practice, with street parking nearby.

If you’ve damaged a tooth, call 01420 476745 as early as you can and tell us it’s urgent. We welcome patients with damaged teeth from Bordon, Whitehill, Headley, Grayshott, Liphook, Haslemere, Farnham, Alton and Petersfield.

Frequently Asked Questions

Broken a Tooth? Call Us.

The sooner a damaged tooth is seen, the more of it we can usually save.

CALL 01420 476745 OR BOOK AN APPOINTMENT

Chalet Hill Dental & Implants, 28 Chalet Hill, Bordon GU35 0TQ