Ring 000 or head to the nearest emergency department if breathing becomes difficult, blood is running down the back of your throat, or your tongue or mouth swells badly.
In Short
- A damaged tooth can be painless and still seriously weakened, so the Better Health Channel says to have it checked promptly regardless of symptoms.
- Keep any broken piece moist in milk or sterile saline rather than plain water, and bring it along.
- A tiny chip might only need smoothing or bonding; bigger breaks may need a veneer, a full crown, or the nerve treated before the tooth is rebuilt.
- Pain that's severe, a tooth that feels loose or has moved, or any sign of infection means getting seen quickly rather than waiting for a routine slot.
One crunch on an olive pit, a fall off a bike, a basketball elbow — a chipped tooth happens in a second.
What you do in the next hour matters more than most people realise.
Here's the sequence, how to judge urgency, and what repair actually involves.
The First Hour: Five Steps
Find the piece
If a fragment broke off, pick it up gently and keep it moist in milk or sterile salty water, never tap water. The Better Health Channel adds that saliva works too, as long as the piece is sealed in a small container or wrapped in cling film.
Stop any bleeding
Hold a clean towel or dressing against the area. Healthdirect's advice is to get emergency help if heavy bleeding is flowing down your throat.
Calm swelling
A wrapped cold pack held against the outside of the cheek helps. Don't put ice straight onto skin.
Go easy on it
Eat soft food, chew on the other side, and don't keep testing the tooth by biting on something hard.
Book a check
Whether or not it aches, get it looked at quickly. Pain is an unreliable guide to how deep a break goes, and the Better Health Channel notes that repairing a tooth early improves its odds of surviving.
Sources: Better Health Channel and Healthdirect.
How Urgent Is It?
A small chip with a rough edge and no other symptoms is usually something to book in soon, not drop everything for. It moves up the list when you have sharp or lingering pain, strong reactions to hot or cold, bleeding, swelling, or a tooth that feels loose or looks like it has shifted after an impact.
A tooth that has moved needs prompt attention because the injury may involve the tissues holding it in, not just the visible crown, and a dentist can sometimes stabilise it while it heals. A temperature, pus, a foul taste or swelling that keeps spreading after an injury can mean infection, which we treat as urgent — and a tooth that's been knocked out entirely is a bigger emergency, covered in our dental emergency guide.
We keep same-day appointments for broken teeth, and we never add an emergency surcharge. Call (02) 9055 1735 or see our emergency dental page.
From Small Fix to Big Fix
Think of repair as a ladder: the dentist starts at the lowest rung that will do the job properly, because the aim is to keep as much natural tooth as possible.
Rung 1 · Smoothing
A tiny rough edge can sometimes be polished down so it no longer catches your tongue.
Rung 2 · Tooth-coloured filling or bonding
Resin is built up and shaped to replace the missing corner. It's the usual choice for small to moderate chips and often finished in one visit.
Rung 3 · Veneer
A thin shell over the front surface, considered for a front tooth when shape or colour needs improving as well as the chip.
Rung 4 · Crown
A cap over the whole tooth, used when a large part of the tooth has broken away and what's left needs protecting.
Rung 5 · Root canal, then a crown
If the break has reached the nerve, the infected or injured pulp is cleaned out first so the tooth can be kept.
Rung 6 · Extraction
A last resort for teeth that genuinely can't be restored, followed by a conversation about replacement options.
Several of these are services we offer in-house: tooth-coloured fillings, veneers, crowns and root canal treatment.
At Mount Druitt Dental Care
Snapped a Piece Off a Tooth?
Same-day assessment, no emergency surcharge.
What Will It Cost?
Costs span a huge range because the repairs do. For context, CHOICE's analysis of the ADA's 2022 fee survey lists tooth-coloured fillings on front teeth at about $167 on average for one surface and $202 for two, and a veneered crown at around $1,678. Veneers and root canal treatment aren't covered by those averages, so we quote them after an examination.
Bigger repairs can be spread with our payment plans, and eligible health fund claims are processed on the spot with HICAPS.
Stopping the Next One
The Better Health Channel advises wearing a mouthguard for any sport or training where mouth injury is a risk — it names football, rugby, soccer, basketball, netball, water polo and hockey — and a dentist-fitted guard protects best. Beyond that, keep your teeth out of the toolbox, fix decay before it weakens a tooth, and keep up your six-monthly check-up and clean so worn fillings get picked up early.
Chipping the same tooth repeatedly can also be a clue to grinding or a bite problem, so mention it if it keeps happening.
Please note: This is general information, and fee figures are guides as of October 2026, not quotes. Only an examination can tell you what your tooth needs.