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Repairing a Chipped or Broken Tooth

Repairing a Chipped or Broken Tooth

If you have chipped off just a small piece of tooth enamel, your dentist may repair the damage with a filling. If the repair is to a front tooth or can be seen when you smile, your dentist will likely use a procedure called bonding, which uses a tooth-colored composite resin.

A broken tooth can happen for multiple reasons such as chewing ice, biting hard candy, opening something with your teeth and many others. The enamel that covers your teeth is the hardest tissue in the body, but teeth has strength limits. Tripping and falling, an injury to the face, or just biting down on something hard can result in a chipped tooth. If you have broken or chipped a tooth, don’t panic. Your dentist can fix it.

How do you care for a broken or chipped tooth?

If you break, chip, or fracture your tooth, see your dentist as soon as possible. If you don’t you run the risk of your tooth being damaged further.

Chipped or broken tooth self-care:

How can a chipped tooth be repaired?

What do I do if I break my tooth and knocked-out ?

  • Handle teeth carefully by collecting the tooth or tooth fragments touching only the crown, the top part of the tooth.
  • Do not touch the root of the tooth.
  • Do not scrub, scrape, or use alcohol to remove dirt.
  • Re-insert or store the tooth after rinsing your mouth with warm water.
  • If possible, reinsert permanent teeth into the correct sockets and have the person bite on a gauze pad to hold the tooth in place.
  • If you can’t reinsert permanent teeth, or for baby teeth or teeth fragments, store them in whole milk or between your cheek and gum to prevent drying.
  • For pain and swelling, apply a cool compress. Encourage a child to suck on an ice pop.
  • For pain, take acetaminophen or ibuprofen.
  • See your dentist or go to an emergency room and take the teeth or teeth fragments with you.

If you break or chip your tooth make an appointment with your dentist as soon as possible to fix your teeth, protect your smile, and ease your pain. If you knocked-out a permanent tooth this is considered a dental emergency. Teeth can be re-implanted in many cases. A permanent tooth that is re-implanted within 30 minutes has the highest chance of success.

Schedule a dental appointment with the Plano dentists and Melissa dentist

Fred Haight DDS is an emergency dentist located in Plano, TX and Melissa, TX. To request an emergency appointment for a chipped or broken tooth, call 972-527-5555 or request an appointment online. While you wait to see our dentist, it’s important to protect your tooth so it stays intact. Contact Haight Family Dentistry in at our Plano or our Melissa, TX by calling 972-527-5555 or request an appointment online.