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

📞 020 8888 0881 | 📍 Wood Green, Haringey, North London

A broken tooth rarely happens at a convenient time. It might be on the commute, mid-sandwich or after a fall on a wet pavement. This guide helps you decide how urgent it is, then explains something most guides skip: how many visits each repair usually needs, so you can plan around work and family.

Short answer: A small chip with no pain isn’t usually an emergency and can be repaired at a booked appointment. Severe pain, swelling, bleeding, a knocked-out tooth or a large break needs urgent dental advice. Many chips are repaired in one visit, while crowns, root canal treatment and implants need more than one.

First: How Urgent Is It?

Call 999 or go to A&E if you have:

• a head or facial injury, or loss of consciousness
• difficulty breathing or swallowing
• swelling spreading towards your eye or neck
• bleeding that won’t stop

Call a dentist straight away (NHS 111 if we’re closed) if:

• an adult tooth has been knocked out or pushed out of position
• you have severe or throbbing pain, swelling, a pimple on the gum or a bad taste
• a large piece has broken off

Call us as soon as you can if:

• the tooth is broken or sensitive to hot, cold or biting
• a sharp edge is cutting your tongue or cheek

Book a routine appointment if:

• it’s a small, painless chip

Knocked-Out Adult Tooth

Hold it 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 immediately. Never replant a baby tooth, as it can harm the adult tooth underneath. The NHS gives similar advice (NHS inform: broken or knocked-out tooth).

Until You’re Seen

• Rinse gently with warm water, and use a cold compress on your cheek if it swells.
• Eat soft food on the other side.
• Take paracetamol or ibuprofen if suitable for you, following the pack instructions.
• Cover a sharp edge with sugar-free gum or dental wax, and keep any broken piece in milk.

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.

How Many Visits Will My Repair Take?

This depends on the damage and on the treatment. It’s a general guide, as your dentist will confirm the plan after examining your tooth.

Usually One Visit

• Smoothing and polishing for tiny chips
• Composite bonding: tooth-coloured material is built up and shaped on the tooth
• A filling for a moderate break, especially on a back tooth

Usually Two Visits

• A crown for a heavily damaged or cracked tooth: the tooth is prepared, then the crown is fitted later
• An inlay or onlay for a cracked cusp or failed large filling
• A porcelain veneer for a larger chip on a visible tooth

More Than Two Visits

• Root canal treatment when damage reaches the nerve, followed by a crown to protect the tooth
• Extraction, then a single-tooth implant or bridge if a tooth has split below the gum and can’t be saved

Visit numbers vary, so please ask us at your appointment. Where a tooth can’t be repaired straight away, we may place a temporary repair to make it comfortable first.

What Happens at the First Visit?

The dentist will ask what happened, examine the tooth and your bite, and usually take an X-ray to check the root and the bone around it. Cracks can be hard to spot, and some don’t show on an X-ray, so a thorough examination matters. We’ll explain your options and costs before any treatment begins.

NHS or Private?

Bounds Green Dental & Implants is a private and NHS dentist. Some repairs, such as fillings, crowns and root canal treatment, may be available on the NHS for eligible patients, while cosmetic repairs like bonding and veneers are private. See our NHS treatment page and prices page.

Why Waiting Costs You More

Enamel can’t regrow, so a damaged tooth won’t heal on its own. Waiting can allow:

• a crack to spread, turning a simple repair into a crown or root canal treatment
• decay to reach the exposed part of the tooth
• infection if the nerve is exposed
• a sharp edge to keep cutting your tongue or cheek

A repair done early is usually simpler, and often needs fewer visits.

What Caused It?

• Hard foods, ice, boiled sweets, olive stones and pen lids
• Falls, cycling accidents and knocks in a busy city, on the pavement or on a run
• Contact sport and five-a-side football
• Teeth grinding or clenching, which often goes hand in hand with a stressful week
• Large old fillings that weaken the tooth around them
• Decay that has hollowed out the tooth
• Age, as teeth become more brittle

Protecting Your Teeth

• Wear a mouthguard for contact sport
• Ask us about a night guard if you grind (see teeth grinding)
• Never use your teeth as scissors or bottle openers
• Have old fillings checked at your regular dental examination
• Treat decay early

Children’s teeth often take knocks in the playground. Have a damaged baby tooth checked. See our children’s dentistry page.

Nervous About the Dentist?

If a broken tooth also brings back worries about dental visits, tell us when you call. We’ll explain each step and work at your pace.

Dental Care for Wood Green and North London

Bounds Green Dental & Implants is in Wood Green, in the London Borough of Haringey. We welcome patients from Wood Green, Bounds Green, Palmers Green, Turnpike Lane, Southgate, New Southgate, Muswell Hill, Alexandra Park and Tottenham.

If you’ve damaged a tooth, call 020 8888 0881 as early as you can and tell us it’s urgent. We aim to see patients with urgent problems as soon as we can.

Frequently Asked Questions

Broken a Tooth? Call Us.

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

CALL 020 8888 0881 OR BOOK AN APPOINTMENT

Bounds Green Dental & Implants, Wood Green, London