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

📍 370 Wokingham Road, Earley, Reading RG6 7HT | 🕢 Open Until 7:30pm on Thursdays | 📞 0118 966 9134

Most of us don’t think about dental first aid until a tooth breaks, and by then you’re in pain, a bit panicked and trying to remember what you’re supposed to do. A little preparation helps. This guide explains how to be ready, what to say when you ring, and how a chipped, cracked or broken tooth is repaired at Puresmile Earley Dental & Implants on Wokingham Road.

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.

Build a Dental First-Aid Kit

It takes two minutes, and could save a tooth. Keep these together in a drawer or bag:

• Sugar-free chewing gum or dental wax, to cover a sharp edge
• A small container with a lid, and a carton of milk, to keep a broken piece or a knocked-out tooth
• Paracetamol or ibuprofen, to take as directed on the pack, if suitable for you
• A cold pack or a bag of frozen peas wrapped in a cloth
• Clean gauze or a cloth, to bite on if a tooth is knocked out or bleeding
• Our number (0118 966 9134) and NHS 111 saved in your phone

What to Do the Moment It Happens

• Rinse your mouth gently with warm water.
• Find any piece that’s come away, and keep it in milk.
• Cover any sharp edge with gum or wax.
• Hold a cold pack against your cheek if it’s swelling.
• Eat soft food, and chew on the other side.
• Call us.

Please don’t use household glue, poke at the tooth or put aspirin against the gum. The NHS gives similar advice (NHS inform: broken or knocked-out tooth).

If an Adult Tooth Has Been Knocked Out

This is an emergency, and speed matters. 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. Take your child to a dentist straight away.

The 60-Second Phone Call: What to Tell Us

When you ring 0118 966 9134, it helps if you can tell us:

• What happened and when
• Which tooth it is, and whether it’s at the front or back
• How much it hurts, and whether the pain is constant, or only when you bite or have something hot or cold
• Whether a piece has come away, and whether you’ve kept it
• Any swelling, bleeding or bad taste
• Whether you’re a patient with us, or new

We’ll tell you how urgent it is, what to do in the meantime, and when we can see you. We’re open Monday to Wednesday and Friday, 9am to 5:30pm, and until 7:30pm on Thursdays.

How Urgent Is It?

If we’re closed, call NHS 111 for urgent dental advice.

How We Repair a Damaged Tooth

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. Then we’ll explain your options and costs before any treatment begins.

• Tiny chips can be smoothed and polished.
• Small to medium chips, mainly on visible teeth, can be rebuilt with composite bonding. Tooth-coloured resin is built up, shaped and polished.
• Larger chips on visible teeth, or where shape and colour also need improving, may suit a porcelain veneer, a thin shell bonded over the front of the tooth.
• A cracked cusp, or a failed large filling, can be rebuilt with an inlay or onlay, or a filling for moderate breaks.
• A heavily damaged or cracked tooth is often protected with a crown, a cap that covers and holds the tooth together.
• If the nerve is damaged or infected, root canal treatment removes the damaged tissue so the tooth can be saved, usually followed by a crown.
• If a tooth has split below the gum line, it may not be savable. We can then discuss replacing it with a dental implant or bridge.

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. 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
• 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, including university and club sport
• 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 Earley

Puresmile Earley Dental & Implants is at 370 Wokingham Road, near Maiden Erlegh Nature Reserve and the University of Reading. There are two off-street spaces in front of the practice, and street parking nearby.

We welcome patients with damaged teeth from Earley, Lower Earley, Woodley, Winnersh, Shinfield, Wokingham and the wider Reading area.

Frequently Asked Questions

Broken a Tooth? Call Us.

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

CALL 0118 966 9134 OR BOOK AN APPOINTMENT

Puresmile Earley Dental & Implants, 370 Wokingham Road, Earley, Reading RG6 7HT