Part of my tooth came off, but no pain? Is it an emergency?

[BertieBotts]

I normally google stuff (I'm pretty non hysterical) but I can't deal with teeth, the pictures and a lot of the wording makes me feel woozy.

I have a molar which recently developed a hole or a crack, very small. I have a filling in that tooth but it was an old one. I ignored the hole (stupidly) but Sunday night when I was flossing a chunk of the edge of the tooth came off. It was coloured black which freaked me out. But I don't know if that's because it was resting against the metal filling.

I am overdue to see the dentist because of dental anxiety. I can feel the hole and fit my tongue into it and because it's so big (2mm or so?) food doesn't seem to get stuck in there, it falls or is easily pushed out. I do know that I will need to get it looked at at some point, but I'm wondering if I should make an emergency appointment ASAP? I can drink hot and cold drinks without it being an issue and it's not painful at all. But obviously, I don't want it to become a problem.

Please can you be gentle and try not to use terrifying language in response?

[zoop1]

It sounds like you know you need to see a dentist, and there is nothing to be gained by putting it off (except more time for you to worry about it). Please call up ASAP for an appointment. Explain/remind them about your anxiety; I'm sure they deal with people with anxieties every week and will have mechanisms to help you cope.
Good luck!

[MackerelOfFact]

The dentist won't see you as a true 'emergency' (ie. as a priority and without an appointment) unless you're in significant pain, but I would take this as a very good reason to make an appointment as soon as you can to get things looked at properly. Mention that you have dental anxiety when you book and the recent breakage. Hope it all goes OK. :)

[BertieBotts]

Thanks, I'll do that.

[gingeroots]

I've recently lost a huge chunk of tooth ,tho actually most of it was filling .Perhaps the black bit was filling ?

Anyway until the dentist could give me an appointment the advice was to try and keep that area as clean as possible by using warm salt water or mouth wash after I'd eaten anything .

(When I used those little interdental brushes the rest of the filling came out ,so be prepared to loose a bit more )

Dental treatment and dentists do seem much better these days so take heart and make an appointment .