Will a dentist give an emergency appointment if a broken tooth doesn't hurt?

[GoodBrew]

A big filing fell out and broke half my tooth off with it. It doesn't hurt but it looks black and brown in the middle of the stump and feels uncomfortable. I'm worried the lack of pain could be a sign the rot has gone deep into the nerve.

Will a dentist actually see me for an emergency appointment if I tell them it doesn't hurt?

Would you tell a white lie and say it hurts just to get seen?

I know I can buy temporary filling kits but it's really far back and awkward to do myself, and I don't want to seal in bacteria.

If it's a biggie and not painful have you already had a root canal treatment done on it?

I don't know if the temp fillings are good or not , the risk is they can seal bacteria in.
The biggest pain I find is you lacerate your tongue and cheek on the sharp edge !

I wouldn’t lie about it hurting as it will most likely affect how they choose to treat it.

I think it will depend on the dentist and how busy they are. I had a broken tooth and I went to sit in the waiting room and I was crying because I was in so much pain and I still didn’t get an appointment.

A broken tooth that's making it uncomfortable to eat and chew is an emergency I think? You don't have to say you're in agonising pain. But presumably it doesn't feel right and you can't chew properly?

My dentists office would try and see me asap for something like this if I said it was urgent. But they are private!

If you are paying, then they'll happily take your money just for a chat!
If you are NHS, then please consider whether lying to get an appointment is the best use of a finite, 'free' resource.

Mine saw me when a tiny bit of my tooth chipped off next to a large filling. Was tiny, no pain but they saw me within 2 days. Was private though so doubt they’d say no to £££££££

Ime they’ll do an emergency visit to look at it, ask if it hurts and if you say no send you off to make an appointment weeks and weeks down the line. This is nhs btw. If during this waiting period it starts to hurt they will see you quickly again and put some sort of temp paste filling over the tooth to cover it (it hardens). So I think even if you say it hurts that’s all they’ll do in the initial,appt, do the temp tooth covering filler thing…it took a minute to do it.

I would tell the receptionist that it hurts!

One step at a time - first just tell them you broke the tooth. That might be enough to get you in.

• The dark black/brown color can mean decay
• The tooth is weaker and could crack further or get infected.
• Nerves don’t always hurt right away—pain can show up suddenly later.

To clarify, all I want is a temporary filling. I don't expect a proper full filling straight away and I'm happy to wait for that part. I take the point about wasting NHS resources but is it really a waste if the stump is black and crumbly and the infection could have killed the root? According to Google this is considered a dental emergency. What im trying to do is figure out how to get the temporary patch done to tide me over.

In case anyone finds this thread in the future and is wondering the same thing, I was honest and they saw me the same day. Told them it didn't really hurt but it was a big chunk and they very kindly gave me a temp patch to tide me over Christmas. I'll prob need a root canal or crown in the new year.

In my experience how long you have to wait for an emergency appointment varies depending on the surgery, even if you are private. I am private and still have been unable to get seen immediately even when I have been in a lot of pain - not waiting weeks but not same/next day either.