What to Do When You Break a Tooth
If you’ve just broken or cracked one or more of your teeth in an accident, then it’s important that you start looking after it correctly straight away. While Naenae Dental is open every day from morning to evening, and sometimes late evening, it’s important to know what you can do there and then to look after your tooth and reduce the pain while stopping the possibility of any further damage occurring.
What can you do now to help your tooth?
- Rinse your mouth immediately with warm water to get rid of anything else that might be in there and make sure no pieces of the tooth are loose inside your mouth. It’s important to use warm water so your tooth isn’t sensitive to the temperature, and so it can loosen anything that would otherwise cling to your mouth.
- Apply pressure with gauze to any bleeding areas for at least 10 minutes or until the bleeding stops. You need to minimise the chance of blood spreading around your mouth, so apply pressure to the degree that you can stand. You can use a teabag instead of gauze if needed.
- Apply a cold pack or ice to your cheeks or lips over the broken tooth. This will reduce the swelling and alleviate pain, and you can do this for as long as needed to help.
- Take over-the-counter pain medication such as Paracetamol to help with the pain. Always read the instructions and take as directed to avoid dangerous side effects, no matter the level of pain you’re experiencing. It’s likely that you’ll be dealing with a great deal of pain at this point, and you’ll also probably be worried if you can’t make it to a dentist straight away for any reason.
Contact Naenae Dental Clinic
It’s best to get in touch with Naenae Dental as soon as possible if you break a tooth in an accident – we’re open 7 days to make sure we’re able to help as many people with their teeth as possible, and are also open late on four weekday evenings. If your accident happens during our opening hours, then your best move is to immediately give us a call on 04 567 4752, and come into our clinic at 9 Hillary Court in Naenae. If it’s outside our opening hours, put a call through to the office and leave your information, then if you can, follow the steps above and meet us at the clinic as soon as we’re open!
Our extended open hours make us the best emergency dentist Wellington has to offer, and people often come from far outside Lower Hutt to get our help in emergencies when they’ve had accidents with their teeth.
With tooth restoration and tooth replacement services available, including fillings, ceramic onlay and inlays, root canal treatment, crowns, implants, bridges and dentures, we’re completely equipped to deal with any emergency dental service you might be facing, and with over 100 combined years of dental experience can always be trusted to accurately diagnose the problem and prescribe the right treatment for you.