First hour: what to do
Rinse gently with warm water
Clears debris and lets you see the damage. Warm, not hot or cold, if the tooth is sensitive.
Save any pieces
Keep fragments moist in milk or your own saliva. Do not let them dry out and do not store them in plain water. Bring them with you.
Control bleeding
Firm, gentle pressure with clean gauze or a folded tissue for about ten to fifteen minutes. Bleeding from the gum around a broken tooth is common and usually settles.
Cold compress for swelling
On the outside of the cheek, twenty minutes on and twenty off. Never put ice directly against the tooth or gum.
Cover a sharp edge
Orthodontic wax or a piece of sugar-free chewing gum over the sharp edge stops it cutting your tongue or cheek — which otherwise happens quickly.
Call a dentist
Describe what broke, when, and whether there is pain. That determines how quickly you need to be seen.
Do not file or sand the tooth yourself, use household glue on a fragment, or apply painkillers directly against the gum — aspirin held against soft tissue causes a chemical burn.
How urgent is it?
Not every chip needs a same-day appointment, and it helps to know which kind you have.
Go to an emergency department now for a break that followed a head injury with confusion, loss of consciousness, or vomiting; bleeding that will not stop; or facial swelling affecting breathing or swallowing.
Call a dentist immediately — same day if:
- The tooth has been knocked out entirely (handle it by the crown, never the root — this is the most time-critical dental injury there is)
- A large piece has broken off
- The inside of the tooth looks pink or red, meaning the nerve is exposed
- Pain is severe or worsening
- There is swelling of the face or gum
- The tooth is loose or has moved
Book within a few days for a small chip in enamel with no pain, a rough or sharp edge, or mild sensitivity to cold.
The reason even a painless chip needs looking at: a fracture can extend further than the visible damage. Cracks travel toward the nerve without symptoms and announce themselves weeks later as pain on biting, by which point the repair is bigger. Our guide to what counts as a dental emergency covers the wider judgement call.
No, it will not heal on its own
Enamel is the hardest substance in the body and it contains no living cells. It cannot regenerate. A chipped tooth does not repair itself the way skin or bone does — it stays exactly as it is until it is restored.
In the meantime the exposed surface is rougher, harder to clean, more prone to decay, and structurally weaker at the fracture line. This is one of the genuinely useful things to know, because "it does not hurt so it must be fine" is the reasoning that turns a bonding appointment into a crown.
How it gets repaired
The repair follows the damage. There are five common routes.
Smoothing and polishing. For minor enamel chips and rough edges. Often a single short appointment with no material added.
Composite bonding. The workhorse for small to moderate chips. Tooth-coloured resin is shaped onto the tooth and hardened, usually in one visit, usually without anaesthetic. Excellent for front teeth, and reversible in the sense that little or no natural tooth is removed.
A veneer. For larger front-tooth damage, or where bonding has been repeated and keeps failing. A thin ceramic facing covers the visible surface. More involved than bonding and longer lasting. See veneers and bonding.
A crown. When a substantial part of a tooth is gone, particularly a back tooth carrying chewing load. The crown holds the remaining structure together, which is often the actual point rather than appearance. See crowns and bridges.
Root canal treatment, then a crown. When the fracture has reached the nerve or the nerve has died. The tooth is treated from the inside first and then restored. See root canal therapy.
Which one applies is decided by examination and usually an X-ray, not from a description over the phone. That is not evasiveness — the difference between a bonding case and a root canal case is frequently invisible from the outside.
Why teeth chip
Sometimes the cause is obvious: ice, popcorn kernels, an olive pit, hard candy, a fall, or using teeth to open packaging.
Often it is not. Teeth that chip easily are usually already compromised, and the chip is the symptom rather than the event:
- Grinding and clenching, which thins the biting edges over years until a normal bite finishes the job. This is the most common underlying finding.
- Large old fillings that leave thin walls of remaining tooth
- Untreated decay undermining the structure from inside
- Acid erosion from reflux, frequent acidic drinks, or vomiting
- Previous trauma that left a crack running quietly for years
If you have chipped more than one tooth, or chipped a tooth on something soft, the cause is worth finding. Repairing the tooth without addressing grinding means doing it again. Our guide to night guards for teeth grinding covers the protective side.
While you wait for your appointment
- Chew on the other side
- Stick to softer food
- Avoid very hot and very cold things if the tooth is sensitive
- Keep the sharp edge covered with wax or sugar-free gum
- Keep brushing gently, including around the broken tooth
- Take over-the-counter pain relief as directed if you need it
If the pain becomes severe, if swelling starts, or if the tooth becomes loose, stop waiting and call.
If you are in Richmond Hill
Call and tell us what broke, when it happened, and whether it hurts. Those three things let us judge how quickly you need to be seen rather than giving you a generic slot. Urgent concerns are triaged ahead of routine appointments, and we will be straight with you on the phone about whether we can see you today.
Bring any fragments, in milk or saliva. Our emergency dentist page explains how urgent visits work here, and emergency dentistry covers what we can deal with in one appointment.