How should a person react to a broken tooth?
Any number of actions can result in a broken tooth.
- Chewing on a hard object, like a candy or a bone, can break a tooth.
- A fall or a fight can also lead to a broken tooth.
- Sometimes a filling can act as a wedge and break a tooth and sometimes a tooth will break for no apparent reason.
The first thing is to remember to stay calm. Control any bleeding. The long-term remedy for a broken tooth is an inlay, onlay or crown. Until you can get to the dentist, though, you can cover the broken tooth with dental wax, which you can get from your dentist and should keep at home as part of your dental emergency kit.
Don't apply either heat or cold to the area. Until you can get the tooth repaired, switch to a diet of soft food. Generally it's not possible to reattach the broken part of the tooth. Save it, though, and bring it to the dentist, and let the dentist make the final determination. Tooth-colored restorations, like a porcelain filling, generally can be repaired.