A chipped tooth is a break in the enamel, the hard outer layer of a tooth, caused by trauma, biting something hard, or grinding. What to do: rinse with warm water, save any fragments in milk, apply a cold compress to the outside of the cheek, cover sharp edges with dental wax, and call a dentist within 24 hours. Even painless chips need an exam.
I’m Dr. Gregory Mark. I’ve been practicing in Forest Hills since 1995, and chipped teeth are one of the few things patients apologize to me for bringing in. They shouldn’t. A pooled analysis published in Dental Traumatology put the global prevalence of traumatic dental injury in permanent teeth at 15.2 percent, which adds up to more than a billion people who have chipped, cracked, or broken something at some point.
Here’s what to do about yours.
What should I do in the first hour after chipping a tooth?
Clean the area, keep swelling down, protect your tongue from the sharp edge, and get on a dentist’s schedule. None of this repairs the tooth. It keeps a small problem from turning into a bigger one before you’re seen.
- Rinse gently with warm water. This clears out debris and lets you feel where the break actually is.
- Find the fragment if you can. Put it in a small container with milk or saline. If a break is clean and the piece is intact, we can sometimes bond it back onto the tooth, and the color match is perfect because it’s your own enamel.
- Cold compress on the outside of the cheek. Fifteen minutes on, fifteen off. This is for swelling, not for the tooth itself.
- Cover the sharp edge. Dental wax from any pharmacy works. So does a piece of sugarless gum pressed over the corner. A jagged enamel edge will slice your tongue within a day, and that cut hurts more than the chip does.
- Take pain relief by mouth if you need it. Ibuprofen or acetaminophen, as directed on the label.
- Call your dentist. Describe what you’re feeling, not just what you’re seeing.
A few things to avoid. The ADA’s MouthHealthy guidance on dental emergencies is specific that you should never place aspirin directly against the gum or tooth, because it burns the soft tissue. Don’t chew on that side. Don’t keep running your tongue over the edge, which is almost impossible to resist and makes the tissue raw. And please don’t file it down yourself. I’ve seen the results, and they’re harder to fix than the original chip.
Is a chipped tooth a dental emergency?
Usually not. Most chips can wait for a normal appointment. A smaller number genuinely can’t, and the difference has almost nothing to do with how big the chip looks.
Here’s the triage I’d give you over the phone:
| Come in | If you have |
|---|---|
| Today | Bleeding that won't stop, a pink or red spot visible at the break, sharp pain when you release a bite, swelling in the face or gum, or a tooth that feels loose |
| This week | A sharp edge catching your tongue, new sensitivity to cold, a lost filling next to the chip, or a front tooth you're self-conscious about |
| Next available | A small, smooth chip with no pain and no sensitivity |
That pink or red spot matters more than anything else on this list. It means the break has reached the pulp, the living tissue inside the tooth, and that tooth is now open to bacteria.
Our practice keeps openings in the daily schedule for urgent problems, so if you’re in the top row, call and say so. But I’ll also tell you honestly when something can wait. If the pain is showing up as an ache when you bite down rather than at the chip itself, that pattern usually points to a crack rather than a chip, and it’s worth mentioning when you call.
Will a chipped tooth heal on its own?
No. Enamel is the only tissue in your body that has no living cells in it, which means it has no mechanism to rebuild itself. Bone knits. Skin closes. Enamel just stays broken. The American Association of Endodontists makes the same point about cracks in teeth, which don’t heal the way a fractured bone does.
Think of a windshield chip. It’s small, it’s not blocking your view, and you drive around with it for weeks. Then one cold morning it runs eight inches across the glass. Teeth behave the same way under daily load. Every bite puts pressure on the weakened edge, and the break follows the path of least resistance.
A chip that doesn’t hurt is not the same as a chip that’s fine. Enamel has no nerves. You only feel pain once the break reaches dentin or pulp underneath, so “no pain” often just means the damage hasn’t traveled far enough yet. Painless chips are the ones people put off for two years and then come in with a fractured cusp.
How do dentists fix a chipped tooth?
The repair depends on how much sound tooth structure is left, not on how the chip looks from the front. That’s the question I’m actually answering when I examine you, and it’s why two chips that look identical in the mirror can get two different treatments.
| Repair | When it's the right call | Visits |
|---|---|---|
| Recontouring | Tiny chip, no structural loss. We smooth and polish the edge. | 1 |
| Composite bonding | Small to moderate chip, healthy tooth underneath | 1 |
| Porcelain veneer | Larger front-tooth chip, or a chip plus discoloration | 2 |
| Crown | Significant structure lost, or a tooth already heavily filled | 1 with CEREC |
| Root canal, then crown | Break has exposed the nerve | 2 or more |
| Extraction and implant | Fracture extends below the gumline, tooth can't be saved | Multiple |
For most chips, tooth-colored composite resin shaped and cured onto the tooth in a single visit is all it takes. No anesthesia in most cases, no lab, and you walk out with it done.
Bigger front-tooth chips sometimes call for a thin porcelain shell across the whole front surface instead, because rebuilding a large corner in composite puts a lot of stress on a small bond. Where the line falls between those two, and where a crown becomes the safer answer, is a longer conversation. I wrote about where the boundary between them actually sits if you want the detail.
When a tooth needs full coverage, we can design and mill the crown from a ceramic block in the office in about an hour using CEREC, which means no temporary and no second appointment. And if the break has exposed the nerve, the nerve has to be treated before anything gets rebuilt. Skipping that step is how a repairable tooth becomes an extraction.
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Not sure which of these applies to your tooth?
A short exam and a digital X-ray usually answer that in one visit. Dr. Mark will tell you what he sees and what he’d do about it, including when the honest answer is that it can wait.
See what your tooth actually needs
New patients welcome. Emergency slots are held open daily.
How much does it cost to fix a chipped tooth?
Nationally, chipped tooth repair runs from roughly $100 for recontouring to $3,500 or more for a crown, and the spread comes down to which repair your tooth needs rather than which one you’d prefer.
Typical national ranges, not Forest Hills Dental pricing:
- Recontouring: $100 to $300
- Composite bonding: $150 to $600 per tooth
- Porcelain veneer: $900 to $2,500 per tooth
- Crown: $1,000 to $3,500 per tooth
- Root canal plus crown: $2,000 to $4,000
The insurance logic is more predictable than people expect. Restorative work usually gets partial coverage. Purely cosmetic work usually doesn’t. A crown on a molar you fractured on an olive pit is restorative. A veneer placed to improve the shape of a front tooth that’s structurally fine is cosmetic. Same office, same day, very different reimbursement.
If a chip needs more than bonding and the coverage falls short, we offer financing through CareCredit, including 0 percent plans. I’d rather work out payment than watch someone wait eighteen months while a repairable tooth gets worse and more expensive.
What happens at a chipped tooth appointment in Forest Hills?
The visit is short and mostly diagnostic. Here’s the sequence.
We look at the tooth and take a digital X-ray. The X-ray isn’t for the chip, which I can see. It’s for what’s underneath: how close the break sits to the pulp, whether there’s an old filling undermining the corner, and whether anything is going on at the root. When a fracture line is difficult to read on a standard image, we can use cone beam scanning to get a three-dimensional view.
Then I check your bite. This is the step most people don’t expect and the one that matters most for whether the repair lasts. If a chipped upper incisor is taking the full force of your lower teeth every time you close, bonding it without adjusting that contact means it will chip again, usually within a year. The repair is only as good as the forces acting on it.
After that, you get a recommendation and a number, and you decide.
A note on where this thinking comes from. I’m a Kois-trained comprehensive dentist and a mentor at the Kois Center, where I teach other dentists, and I was one of the early mentors for CEREC technology in the United States. The relevant part for you is that Kois training is built around diagnosing why a tooth failed before restoring it. With chipped teeth, that usually turns out to be grinding, a bite problem, or a filling that got too large, and none of those get fixed by adding composite to the edge.
How do I keep it from happening again?
Most repeat chips come from one of three sources: grinding, sports, or a short list of specific foods.
If you grind at night, a custom night guard is the single most effective thing you can do. Grinding generates forces well beyond normal chewing, and it will find the weakest edge in your mouth repeatedly.
If you or your kids play contact sports, get a custom mouthguard rather than a boil-and-bite from the drugstore. A custom guard fits, so it stays in, so it actually gets worn.
And the usual offenders, which I see constantly in Queens: ice, popcorn kernels, olive pits, hard candy, pen caps, and using your teeth to open packaging. Popcorn kernels alone probably account for more chipped molars than every sports injury I’ve treated.
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Chipped tooth: TL;DR
- A chipped tooth is broken enamel and it will not grow back or repair itself.
- In the first hour: rinse with warm water, save the fragment in milk, cold compress on the cheek, cover the sharp edge with dental wax, call a dentist.
- Never place aspirin against the gum, and don’t chew on that side.
- Go in the same day if there’s bleeding you can’t stop, visible pink or red at the break, swelling, or pain when you release a bite.
- A chip that doesn’t hurt still needs an exam, because enamel has no nerves and pain only starts once the break goes deeper.
- Most chips are repaired with composite bonding in a single visit. Larger ones may need a veneer or a crown.
- Repair costs nationally run from about $100 for recontouring to $3,500 or more for a crown, and restorative work is more likely to be covered by insurance than cosmetic work.
A chip doesn’t get better on its own, but it does get more expensive.
Most are a single short visit. If you found the fragment, bring it with you.
Prefer to talk it through first? Call (718) 275-9792. If it isn’t urgent, we’ll tell you.
Common questions about chipped teeth
Can I fix a chipped tooth at home?
No. Temporary dental wax or dental cement from a pharmacy can cover a sharp edge and protect your tongue for a day or two, but neither bonds to enamel or restores the tooth. Filing or sanding a chip yourself removes healthy enamel that cannot be replaced and often makes the final repair more complicated.
Does a chipped tooth always hurt?
No. Enamel contains no nerves, so a chip confined to the outer layer is usually painless. Pain typically appears once the break reaches the dentin or pulp underneath. A painless chip still needs to be examined, because the absence of pain says nothing about whether the break will spread.
How long can I wait to fix a chipped tooth?
A small, smooth, painless chip can usually wait for a routine appointment within a few weeks. A chip with a sharp edge, new cold sensitivity, or a lost filling nearby should be seen within a week. Bleeding, swelling, visible pink tissue at the break, or pain on biting means the same day.
Can a chipped tooth get infected?
Yes. If the break exposes the dentin or pulp, bacteria can reach the inside of the tooth and cause an infection or abscess. Signs include throbbing pain, swelling in the face or gum, a bad taste, or sensitivity that lingers after hot or cold contact. An infected tooth needs root canal treatment or extraction.
Is bonding or a veneer better for a chipped front tooth?
It depends on how much tooth is missing. Composite bonding is the more conservative choice for small to moderate chips, takes one visit, and removes almost no enamel. A porcelain veneer is generally better for larger chips, for teeth with discoloration alongside the chip, or where a large composite repair would be under too much bite pressure to last.
What if the chip is on a baby tooth?
Baby teeth still need to be examined. A chipped primary tooth can develop an infection that affects the permanent tooth forming underneath it, and sharp edges can injure a child’s tongue and lip. Many chips on baby teeth are smoothed or bonded in a single short visit.