Lost part of tooth in middle of night what do I do?

[DentalNightmare]

I’ll be honest I’m not great at looking after my teeth never have been partly due to phobia of dentists and partly due to other health issues affecting my ability to take care of myself.

But I’ve got away with it for a long time, middle aged now, but it’s catching up with me.

No chance of seeing a dentist before the new year.

And it’s a front tooth!

I damaged it slightly in a daft accident many years ago and so it’s been cracked for a long time but kept going.

I’ve not done anything extra to it as far as I know but in my sleep last night it just crumbled on me!!!

One side of its just kind of fallen away.

I have no idea what if anything I can do with it. Anyone got any magic ideas?

I’ll see a dentist when I can it’s not painful at the moment thank goodness but I’m very very nervous of dealing with it.

[VivaLeBeaver]

If it's not painful that's a good sign. Dentists do do emergency appts though and it's probably best to get it sorted sooner than later..... You don't want further damage and it could be weakened.

[ragged]

Have you kept the bit that fell off? They can talk to you about whether to glue it back on or live without it.

[DentalNightmare]

Zero chance of getting even an emergency appointment any time soon.

Not kept part as it crumbled and I just was woken with bits of tooth on my tongue lucky I didn’t choke really

[VivaLeBeaver]

Part of one of my front teeth snapped off. So when you looked at my tooth it was like An entire top quarter had been cut off. The dentist did a “filling” to repair it. Obviously a white one which was moulded to fit and you can’t tell from looking that a good portion of my tooth is fake.

Oddly enough it was the dentist who snapped it off at a routine checkup, new dentist who was very rough and as he scraped between my front teeth it just snapped off! Nobody realised (or he didn’t say). And I must have spat it down the sink when I swilled. I didn’t realise it was gone until I was back in the waiting room, felt a massive gap with my tongue, thought my entire tooth was gone and fainted!

[Elieza]

You may be surprised if you phone first thing Monday as perhaps nobody has scheduled appointments and it’s all emergency cases like yours and you may get an appointment.

Or you can’t face going and are just looking for some advice to get you through the festive season without having to go to the dentist as you can’t face it, you could try the filling stuff you get in some chemists which is like white plasticine that you blob on the tooth and it hardens and protects what’s left of the tooth from food getting trapped. My only worry is what if it starts really really hurting and the dentists are all shut? A&E won’t help you. You are better to phone and get it fixed rather than be in agony.

If you are really phobic you can be sedated with an injection into a drip thing in your arm depending on your other health issues. You don’t care about anything it’s really chilled out. You could enquire about that.

It will be scary for you whenever you go because of your phobia, but the longer you leave it the worse it will be.

My dentist lets you pay as you go after each of your appointments or on full at the end of treatment, which could take many weeks, so if you’re worried about money ask.

[DentalNightmare]

Is it ok if I pm you elieza? It’s a bit more complicated but very outing and you seem to know your stuff.

I was hoping a dentist or dental nurse would reply

[Elieza]

I honestly don’t know that much, just what I know from personal experience!

Ask whatever you want and I can answer it if I can here as others more informed than me could perhaps help!

My background is that I was scared if the dentist at one point and made an appointment with one who did sedation as suggested by my own dentist. They ask lots of medical questions and I was suitable. I made an appointment for the following month. They put a cannula in your arm or the back of your hand and put the stuff in. You relax and don’t care about anything. I was worked on for over an hour and it felt like five mins. I didn’t care. It was so good, that the next time I wasn’t scared to go back, and now I’m fine.

You have to have someone to take you home and stay with you to make sure you are safe. They get instructions for symptoms to watch for just in case. I was fine. I felt drunk and giggly. It wore off gradually. I don’t need it any more. But I know it’s an option if I do need it now I’ve been assessed! Providing I remain healthy enough.

Re the filling stuff, I’m sure it’s called something like an emergency filling pack or something. It just protects the tooth from food getting in. But it won’t fix anything. The decay will still be munching through your tooth underneath. It’s just temporary.

I had a bit break off my front tooth and they just took the decay away and white fillinged the whole side until it looked like my own tooth was back.

Does any of that help?

[BlueCornsihPixie]

Hi OP, I'm a dentist. It sounds like you've had decay in your front tooth and it's crumbled. If you cracked it a while ago most likely decay has got into the crack if that makes sense?

You need to see a dentist as soon as you can really, they should be able to fill it or crown it, depending on the amount of tooth tissue lost. It may need a root canal if it's had previous trauma, which really isn't as scary as everyone says, it's just long.

But that's worst case scenario, most likely going by what you've said sounds like a white filling should fix it.

It will have been decayed for a while, it will probably be fine till new year if needs must, decay in teeth is normally fairly slow progressing, and if its not painful its most likely not close to the nerve, but obviously not pleasant for you to have a broken tooth.

You won't get sedated as an emergency, sedation waiting lists are normally ridiculously long, I would only opt for sedation for a front tooth filling if there was absolutely no other option. And I would at least attempt a filling without first as long term dental treatment under sedation isn't always viable, unless you pay privately.

From your side what I would do if you really can't see a dentist is keep it as clean as you can. Get plenty of fluoride toothpaste on it and get to a dentist as soon as you can. Hope you get it sorted OP

[DentalNightmare]

@BlueCornsihPixie would it be ok to pm you? It’s slightly more complicated as I says before I’d really appreciate a quick chat if ok with you?

[BlueCornsihPixie]

Yeah of course you can @DentalNightmare

[DentalNightmare]

Thank you so much pm’ing you now