I’ve Broken My Tooth – What Should I Do?
Breaking or chipping your tooth could be a very stressful experience to go through, and it can happen to anyone regardless of the standard of their teeth. If you find yourself in a situation where this, unfortunately, happens to you, such as suffering trauma to your mouth, here’s what you should do to help with the pain and to stop yourself from permanently damaging your teeth. Make sure to visit your dentists Llandudno as soon as possible too!
1 – Rinse out your mouth after the tooth has broken.
After chipping or breaking a tooth, you should always rinse your mouth with water. You need to keep the area clean and get rid of any blood and dirt. Also, the piece of the tooth that has broken could still be inside your mouth, so you’ll need to find it. Rinsing will stop you from biting on it and damaging more teeth, or worse, swallowing it.
2 – Stop any bleeding.
If the trauma to your mouth causes bleeding, you will need to apply pressure with a clean towel or gauze as soon as you can. This helps to stop bleeding and will mean you won’t swallow as much blood. Do not scrub or do anything to irritate the area more as it might cause extra pain or make you bleed more.
If your bleeding is excessive, call 999 as your injuries may be more severe than just a broken tooth.
3 – Try to find and preserve the tooth.
If your whole tooth has come out your mouth, try to find it ASAP. You could potentially save it.
When found, give it a quick rinse to get the dirt off, and keep it submerged in a glass of milk or a saline water. If you have neither of these to hand, then keep it in clean tap water. The quicker you get to a dentist, the more likely your tooth will be saved.
If the tooth hasn’t fully come out, hold onto it in your mouth. We understand this could feel uncomfortable, but trying to remove it will make it worse.
4 – Apply a cold compress.
Holding a cold compress to the area can help reduce pain and swelling. Cold works to constrict your blood vessels and slows any blood flow to that spot. In effect, this lowers inflammation, numbs the pain a bit, and stops further bleeding.
If you don’t have a freezer cold bag, you could fill a ziplock bag with ice and cover it in a towel.
5 – Take painkillers.
If you are experiencing pain, taking over-the-counter painkillers, such as paracetamol, can aid this.
6 – See your dentist as soon as you can.
Even if you don’t feel much pain, make sure to contact a dentist as soon as possible. Small fractures can lead to further damage or and possibly infection.
