Broken, Chipped or Cracked a Tooth?

Often, yes. A small chip is usually rebuilt with tooth-coloured bonding at that same appointment, while a larger break might be given a filling or a core build-up. Where a crown is needed, a temporary one goes on to protect the tooth while the permanent crown is being made. The emergency appointment costs £70, and you'll have the price of the permanent repair in writing before it goes ahead.

Usually it does, and sooner rather than later. Once the enamel has chipped, the softer dentine underneath wears and decays more quickly, and a crack tends to creep a little further each time you bite. Mending a chip with a small filling or some bonding is quicker and a great deal cheaper than a crown or root canal treatment further down the line. A brief examination, with an X-ray where necessary, will show whether it can safely be left for now.

Because the chip has uncovered dentine, the layer under the enamel, and dentine carries temperature straight through to the nerve. Covering it with bonding or a filling usually stops the sensitivity. But if the reaction to cold lingers beyond a few seconds, starts up on its own, throbs or disturbs your sleep, the nerve is probably inflamed and you might need root canal treatment. Have it examined rather than waiting to see how it develops.

Sometimes. Where enough sound root is left above the bone, the tooth can be restored using a post and core build-up topped with a crown. An X-ray gives us the answer; some teeth that break this low aren't restorable, especially if the crack travels down the root. If yours is beyond saving, we remove it gently and talk through the options for replacing it: a denture, a bridge or an implant.

What decides it is the amount of sound tooth left: a small cavity can be filled, whereas a tooth that is largely filling already, or badly broken down, usually needs a crown. Sitting between the two, an onlay (£750) caps and protects the chewing surface while preserving more of your own tooth than a crown does. Back teeth that have had root canal treatment generally need a crown or an onlay, because they become brittle. Your dentist will point out the problem on your scan and X-ray, and there's more in our guide to crowns, onlays and fillings.

Act quickly. Pick the tooth up by the white crown, never the root, and if it's dirty dip it briefly in milk. Where possible, ease it gently back into the socket and bite softly on a clean cloth to keep it there; otherwise drop it into a cup of milk. Ring us on 01382 477350 immediately, even from the car, because the cells on the root surface start dying as soon as the tooth is out and the odds are best when it's replanted inside an hour. Outside our hours, call NHS 24 on 111, or head to A&E if there's a facial injury as well. Never replant a baby tooth, since that risks harming the adult tooth forming beneath it; bring your child to us to be checked instead.