Dental Emergencies · Crown Point, IN

What Should You Do If You Chip a Tooth? A Crown Point Dentist’s Answer

It happens on a popcorn kernel, a water fountain, or somebody’s elbow at practice. What you do in the next ten minutes matters more than most people expect. Here is the order to do it in.

Call (219) 401-4180 Book an Appointment

Patient being seen for a chipped tooth at Dental Image in Crown Point, IN

Rinse, Compress, Call

The whole first-aid list, in that order

Open Monday Until 7pm

The after-work slot most people need

Enamel Does Not Grow Back

A chip stays a chip until it is repaired

The First Few Minutes

Do These Four Things Before You Do Anything Else

Chipping a tooth is startling, and the instinct is to poke at it and hope it looks better in an hour. It will not. These steps come straight from the American Dental Association, and they take about two minutes.

Rinse With Warm Water

Clean the area gently. It clears away any grit and lets you feel where the edge actually broke.

Cold Compress on the Cheek

Hold it against the outside of the face. It keeps swelling down and takes the edge off the ache.

Save the Piece

If you can find the fragment, keep it in milk or water and bring it in. It is not always usable, but it tells us a lot.

Call and Describe It

Tell us what broke, how it happened, and whether it hurts. That is what decides how quickly you need to be seen.

One Thing Not to Do

Do not put aspirin on the tooth or on the gum next to it. The ADA is specific about this. Aspirin is acidic and burns the soft tissue it sits against, which leaves you with a sore gum on top of a broken tooth.

How Fast Do You Need to Be Seen

When It Is Urgent, and When It Can Wait a Few Days

Not every chip is an emergency, and treating all of them like one is exhausting. The size of the piece matters less than what the tooth is doing now.

Emergency Room First

Heavy bleeding, a deep cut to the face, or any chance the jaw is broken. Go to the nearest emergency room. A broken tooth comes second to that, and it will still be fixable afterward.

Call Us Right Away

The tooth aches, hot or cold sets it off, it feels loose, or the broken edge is cutting your tongue. Pain that arrives with the chip usually means the damage went past the enamel.

Call, but Do Not Panic

A small chip with no pain and no sharp edge. Get it on the schedule this week rather than this hour, and chew on the other side until then.

Never Just Leave It

Even a chip that stops bothering you has left the tooth thinner in that spot, which makes the next crack easier. A rough edge also keeps catching the tongue.

What the Fix Looks Like

Four Ways a Chipped Tooth Gets Repaired

Which one you need depends on how much tooth is gone and whether the nerve was involved. We look first, then tell you which of these applies and why.

Bonding

Tooth-colored material shaped onto the chip and hardened. Usually one visit, no lab, and the color is matched to the tooth beside it.

A Veneer

A thin facing over the front of the tooth. Worth considering when the chip is on a front tooth and you want the whole surface to match.

A Crown

A cap over the whole tooth. This is the answer when a big piece broke off and what is left needs holding together rather than filling in.

Root Canal First

If the break reached the nerve, root canal therapy treats that first. The crown or bonding goes on afterward.

What It Costs Depends on Which One You Need

We do not quote a repair before seeing the tooth, because the same chip can need bonding or a crown depending on what is underneath. You get the treatment plan in writing first. New patients can start with our new patient special, and if you have no dental insurance, ask about the membership plan.

Closed Fridays

If It Happens on a Friday or Over the Weekend

Our Crown Point office is open Monday through Thursday and closed Friday. Leave a message and we will call you back Monday morning. A chip that is not bleeding and not throbbing will hold until then.

What helps in the meantime:

Chew everything on the other side. Nothing hard, nothing sticky.
Cover a sharp edge with a piece of sugarless gum or dental wax so it stops cutting your tongue.
Rinse with warm water after meals, and use a cold compress if the cheek is swelling.
Take an over-the-counter pain reliever by the label directions. On the tooth, never on the gum.
For a facial injury with heavy bleeding or a possible broken jaw, go to an emergency room instead of waiting.

Book for Monday

Reception area at Dental Image in Crown Point, IN where emergency calls are scheduled

Most Chips We See Were Preventable

Ice, popcorn kernels and hard candy account for a lot of them, and so does using teeth to open things that scissors were made for. For anyone playing a sport, a fitted guard is the single best defense. Here is how mouthguard fittings work for Crown Point athletes.

Getting Here

Randolph Street, Crown Point

10705 Randolph St, Crown Point, IN 46307 · (219) 401-4180 · Mon 9am to 7pm · Tue 8am to 2pm · Wed and Thu 8am to 5pm · Fri closed

We see patients from Crown Point, Merrillville, St. John, Schererville, Lowell and Valparaiso. Call before you drive over so we know what to expect and can have the room ready.

What Crown Point Patients Say

A 5-Star Rated Crown Point Dentist

See what patients across Crown Point and Northwest Indiana say about care at Dental Image.

Common Questions

Chipped Teeth: FAQ

Straight answers for Crown Point patients who just broke a tooth and are deciding what to do next.

Rinse your mouth with warm water to clean the area, then hold a cold compress against your cheek to keep the swelling down. If you can find the broken piece, keep it in milk or water and bring it with you. Do not put aspirin on the tooth or the gum tissue around it. Then call your dentist and describe what happened in as much detail as you can.

It depends on what came off. A small chip in the enamel with no pain can usually wait for a regular appointment. Call right away if the tooth aches, if hot or cold sets it off, if the tooth feels loose, or if the broken edge is cutting your tongue or lip. Go to an emergency room instead if there is heavy bleeding, a deep cut to the face, or any chance the jaw is broken.

No. Enamel does not grow back, so a chip stays exactly as it is until it is repaired. Small chips are worth fixing anyway, because a rough edge keeps catching the tongue and the thinner spot is easier to crack again later. Getting it looked at also tells you whether the damage stopped at the enamel or went deeper.

It depends on how much tooth is missing and where. A small chip is usually smoothed and rebuilt with tooth-colored bonding in one visit. A larger break often needs a crown to hold the rest of the tooth together. A front tooth with cosmetic damage may be better served by a veneer. If the break exposed the nerve, root canal therapy comes first and the rebuild follows.

Our Crown Point office is closed Fridays, so leave us a message and we will get back to you when we open Monday at 9am. In the meantime, rinse with warm water, use a cold compress, chew on the other side, and cover a sharp edge with a piece of sugarless gum or dental wax so it stops cutting your tongue. Any facial injury with heavy bleeding or a suspected broken jaw should go straight to an emergency room.

Every case is different, because the repair depends on how much tooth is missing and whether the nerve was affected. We look at it first, tell you what we would recommend and why, and give you the treatment plan in writing before anything gets scheduled. If you do not have dental insurance, ask about our membership plan, which has no deductibles and no yearly maximums.

Broke a Tooth? Call Us.

10705 Randolph St, Crown Point, IN · Open Monday until 7pm