Broken front tooth

The tooth may be broken without the nerve exposed or it may be broken with the nerve exposed. If the nerve is exposed you will see a red dot in the middle of the break. It is important to tell the dentist this when arranging for the patient to be seen.

REMEDY

  • Clean any blood and debris off the tooth and surrounding lips and chin etc.
     
  • Have the patient rinse gently and look at the tooth
     
  • Get them then to close their mouth and not allow air to keep passing by the broken tooth, this will be uncomfortable
     
  • Find the broken piece - sometimes the broken piece may in fact be lodged in the lip if the force of the blow was sufficiently hard so try and find the piece to take it to the dentist
     
  • Give patient some pain relief – panadol, nurofen, nurofen plus, panadeine
     
  • Immediately go to the dentist