Managing broken, chipped and loose teeth at home

Dental Excellence have created some useful tips to support you, if you can’t get to a dentist straight away and you’re managing broken, loose or chipped teeth.

Broken and chipped teeth

If your tooth has chipped or a piece has broken off, it can create a sharp edge that digs into the tongue, lips or cheek. If it’s causing you pain, you should:

• Floss around the area first, and then thoroughly brush the tooth as normal to keep it clean
• Take over-the-counter painkillers such as paracetamol to ease pain
• Rub toothpaste directly onto the affected tooth. Don’t rinse your mouth with water afterwards or you’ll wash away the benefits of the toothpaste
• Use cotton wool to apply clove oil to the area, which can help relieve pain
• If you need to, you can buy temporary filling material from your local pharmacy or supermarket and repair the tooth yourself using the instructions directed on the packet. DenTek and Dentanurse are good examples.

If you’re in excruciating pain from a broken or chipped tooth, or it’s causing severe damage to your cheek or lip, contact a local Smiles Dental practice so they can advise you further. If your tooth is broken or chipped, but you aren’t experiencing any pain, you don’t necessarily need to fill it yourself. Just make sure to take extra care of the tooth, including thorough flossing and cleaning, until you can get an appointment.

Lost filling or hole in tooth

If a lost filling or a hole in your tooth is causing you pain, you can manage it by:

• Avoiding sugary foods, such as sweets and fizzy drinks, which can aggravate toothache
• Continue to brush your teeth as thoroughly as you can with fluoride toothpaste
• As with a broken tooth, you can buy temporary filling material from your local pharmacy or supermarket, and repair it yourself using the instructions directed on the packet

If you don’t feel comfortable using filling material, you can leave your tooth without a filling, but it could leave you at risk of further decay. Make sure you continue to floss or use interdental brushes, followed by brushing your teeth thoroughly to avoid infection and toothache.

Loose or missing crowns and veneers

If you’re suffering from pain with a loose or missing crown, you can usually manage this with over-the-counter pain relief like paracetamol. It’s also key to keep up good oral hygiene to minimise any pain, including using a fluoride toothpaste and reducing your intake of sugary foods.

Dentist Steven Neal explained, “If you feel confident doing so, you can also try recementing the crown in yourself using temporary crown cementing gel called Toofypegs. You can buy this online and in some pharmacies.”

If you don’t feel confident re-fixing your crown, keep it safe and clean so we can re-fit it for you when you come to see us. Don’t ever try to reattach your crown with super glue or other types of non-dental adhesives.

Even if you can manage a lost filling at home, it’s important that you book an appointment with your local practice for routine dental care, so they can provide a long-term solution.

Loose or rubbing dentures

Similar to loose teeth, loose dentures can also cause discomfort. If you’ve got problems with your dentures, try to:

• Use a denture fixative like Fixodent or Sealbond denture pads to help make them more comfortable
• Use an emery board to adjust any sharp area on your dentures
• Leave your dentures out as much as you can if they’re too sore to wear

If you’re struggling with your dentures, you should book an appointment with your local practice for routine care so they can provide you with a long-term solution or talk you through other alternatives for replacing missing teeth.

For further help and advice

If you have a problem which isn’t referenced in this article and is affecting your ability to sleep or concentrate, please get in touch with your local Smiles Dental practice.

If you’re experiencing dental pain, find out more in our article, how to relieve toothache.

If you don’t have a dentist, or you can’t get an appointment with your own Dentist you can contact us here at Dental Excellence for emergency support.

If you can manage problems with broken, loose or chipped teeth at home, we’d still encourage you to visit your local practice for routine dental care.

The health, wellbeing and safety of our patients, their families and our people remain our top priority at Dental Excellence. We’d like to thank our patients for their understanding during the COVID-19 situation. Once it is safe for our practices to re-open we encourage you to get in touch and book an appointment. The latest status of our practices can be found on our Facebook page. If you are experiencing an dental emergency, please phone us on 0906475387.