A big chunk of my tooth fell off! Will it start hurting?

[ImTheGoat]

I have had pain in one of my bottom back teeth for a few months when biting down on anything harder than say a pine nut. The dentist took an xray and couldn't find anything wrong but thought it might have a crack in it. Then just now I was eating my dinner (quorn fajitas) and a big chunk fell off my tooth! Is it going to start hurting? How urgently do I need to see the dentist?

It's a pretty big piece that's fallen off! I can't feel any pain at the moment. Do I brush my teeth tonight or what?

See a dentist as soon as you can. Broken teeth can end up infected and with an abscess. As I know from bitter experience.

This happened to me during the pandemic when no dentist would see me. It cut my tongue to shreds and I just had to pack the area with dental wax for months until I could get a private appt.

Thanks @Badatthis and @Sleepeezey and sorry to hear about your troubles. I'll order some dental wax now just in case it takes a while to get a dentist's appointment. Did your teeth hurt when they broke please? I'm sure the abcess must have been painful 😓

Goodjob

Mine didn’t hurt at all. So I ignored it for ages. Until it did. You are being way more sensible than me :) I hope it gets sorted quickly.

Without knowing how much broke off or what the tooth looks like no one can say

Most teeth that 'break' are actually decayed, therefore they are likely to be painful because they are decayed and this will continue to progress. This will progress to the pulp and therefore toothcahe occurs and eventually they become infected

If your dentist xrayed the tooth then it's more likely a cracked cusp, in which case there's no decay to progress and if its not hurting you right now then it's unlikely to suddenly start hurting, and it won't progress providing you keep it clean

You will need to see a dentist obviously but you have more time.

Best to get to a dentist if you have one or can afford to register privately. Too many tooth issues can lead to all sorts of complications and costs. That said, I lost an entire tooth on a toffee once, was abroad and just left it, there was no pain. It healed really well and that was about 20 years ago. It’s just a cavity now, dentist has never commented on it!

I’m having this right now with my wisdom tooth. All of them are weak and decaying - I was meant to have them all taken out but it was delayed due to appointments and they’ve been “patching it up” since.

Do visit a dentist so that they can cover up the hole or get a crown fitted in or whatever. You don’t want to get food in there and risk infection.

This happened to me during the pandemic with a wisdom tooth, I was brushing my teeth and half of the whole tooth fell out. It must have been completely dead because I felt no pain at all - talking to the dentist on the phone he said he would have heard me screaming from afar if it had been alive and well. It was only about a month into the pandemic but he kindly saw me and took the stump out, it took 10 minutes from me leaving my car to being back in it, including anaesthesia.

Me it was a granary roll, I had crisped up in oven last time, double back,no decay, but likely a minute crack, have one the other side. Previously canine,chuppa lolly,no pain either time, but yes sharp, cutting tongue!

As you've been in pain anyway I'd phone your dentist and ask them to fit you in asap.

I have a lot of problems with teeth breaking up around fillings, but they don't hurt because they are just worn out fillings. Or fillings coming off. I have one that has fallen off three times - twice eating toffees (I don't eat them anymore) and the last time it just came off when I was eating something hard like a carrot (I can't remember now) but they didn't hurt and I didn't even need an anaesthetic to replace the filling.

Ring the dentist and they should give you an appointment fairly quickly.
A big chunk fell off one of my back teeth, it didn't hurt. The dentist fitted me in 3 days later and started the process of doing a crown, so I never had any pain with it.

It will start hurting at some point. Either from an exposed nerve, or an abscess when bacteria gets into the hole. I’ll almost guarantee you’ll be livid with yourself if you just leave it because it’s not hurting yet. If you’ve had toothache before you know it can come on instantly, and you’ll be absolute agony before you know it. And then you’ll have to wait however many days/weeks when you finally get round to phoning the dentist.

Thank you all for the responses. I definitely don't plan on leaving it! My great uncle died in his 40s from an infection from a tooth abcess before I was born - I know how serious they can be. I rang my dentist this morning but the only time today she could see me I already have an appointment at the doctors- I'm basically falling apart at this point 🤣. So I have to ring back tomorrow morning to see if they can take me. It still hasn't started hurting though, thank goodness.