Nothing compares to the pain you experience when you crack, chip, or break a tooth. Although some people are fortunate and don’t feel a thing. Not only does breaking, chipping or cracking a tooth hurt, but it hurts your smile’s appearance. It also harms your oral health. Unless you only experienced a minor chip, it’s important to visit a dentist at your earliest convenience to fix your tooth. Our Spokane Valley dentists will help you address your pain and protect your tooth from experiencing any other damage.

Tooth-less hockey player laughs

What to Do if You Break a Tooth

The first thing you should do when you break a tooth is rinse your mouth with warm water right away. This will clean your mouth out. Next, you should apply pressure to stop bleeding if you have any and then apply a cold compress to the area to reduce swelling. If you happen to find the piece of your tooth that broke off, wrap it up in wet gauze and bring it with you to the dentist’s office. In this instance, you need to visit the dentist immediately. The longer you wait around the more pain you might experience and the more likely an infection can occur.

What to Do if You Chip a Tooth

If you happen to only endure a minor chip off your tooth, you don’t need to freak out. You should also rinse your mouth with warm water and apply a cold compress outside your mouth to reduce swelling. Afterward, you can take an over the counter pain reliever to deal with pain. Applying clove oil to the air can also relieve pain as it contains a natural numbing agent. You then need to schedule an appointment with us. We will try to see you as soon as possible.

If your tooth is sharp and causing cuts in your mouth, you can apply dental wax to the area to protect yourself. In the meantime, try to avoid chewing, flossing, and brushing in the area to avoid irritation.

What to Do If You Crack a Tooth

If you happen to crack your tooth instead, your actions depend on the severity of the incident. If your mouth is bleeding after you crack your tooth, or you feel immense pain, you need to seek treatment immediately. On the other hand, if you notice a crack and there’s no pain associated with it, you can put off visiting us for a few days. We don’t know how severe the crack is until you visit us for an x-ray.

If your teeth experience any sort of injury like a crack, chip, and break or even knocked out, it’s important to visit us as soon as possible. Dental injuries can quickly escape from a small crack to needing a root canal. If you need any dental assistance, please contact us at our Spokane Valley dental office by calling (509) 927-2273.