If a tooth gives you a sharp little jolt when you bite down, or a sharper one still the moment you let go, you’re feeling one of the most ordinary things a dentist sees, and it has a wonderfully simple reason behind it. Better still, ring Widney Dental in Knowle early in the day, in practice hours, and you’re given a same-day appointment with one of our dentists.
So let’s take the worry out of it first. nhs.uk puts it plainly: “Chipping, breaking or cracking a tooth is usually not serious. A dentist should be able to treat it.” Everything below grows from that: why it hurts the way it does, what to do with it tonight, and what happens when you come in.
Why a cracked tooth hurts when you bite, and even more when you let go
Picture a loose paving slab on a garden path. You can walk over it a hundred times and never notice, and then one day your foot lands on exactly the wrong corner and it rocks. Step off, and it clacks back down.
A cracked tooth does the same thing on a tiny scale. Many cracks are far too fine to see, and most of the time the two sides sit snugly together. Then you bite on something at just the right angle, the two sides flex apart by a hair, and the nerve deep inside the tooth feels it. Let go, and the two sides snap back together, and the nerve feels that too. That’s why so many people say the letting go hurts more than the bite.
It’s also why the whole thing is so puzzling. The tooth is fine with porridge, fine all of Tuesday, and then a crust of toast on the left side makes you wince. You haven’t imagined it. The crack only moves when the bite lands in the one place that opens it.
A tooth that has visibly broken hurts for a slightly different reason. Underneath the hard white enamel is a softer layer called dentine, and dentine is the part of a tooth that feels hot, cold and sweet. When a piece breaks away, some of that dentine is suddenly out in the open, so a cold drink or a breath of winter air finds it straight away.
Now, the lovely thing about knowing this is that it shows you what the fix has to do. Nothing has to be guessed at. The crack needs holding still, or the broken part needs covering, and both of those are everyday dentistry.
What to do with a cracked or broken tooth until you’re seen
Well, the first job is to stop asking that tooth to do any work. If a bite is what opens the crack, the simplest relief is to bite somewhere else. nhs.uk’s toothache advice says to “eat soft foods, like yoghurt or scrambled eggs, and try to avoid chewing with the sore tooth”, and it says “do not eat foods that are sweet, very hot or very cold”. Hard things like nuts, ice and crusty bread are worth keeping well away from that side too, because a hard bite is exactly what pries the crack open.
For the ache itself, nhs.uk suggests “painkillers, like ibuprofen or paracetamol”, and adds that “children under 16 should not take aspirin”. Take them as the pack says, and if you’re unsure which suits you, “a pharmacist can advise you”, as nhs.uk puts it.
If a piece of tooth has come away, keep it. nhs.uk’s page on broken teeth says to “put it in milk or saliva” and take it to a dentist, because “The dentist may be able to glue the piece of tooth back on.” And if a broken edge is catching your tongue, that’s one of the first things the dentist smooths over, so it won’t be catching for long.
One more thing saves a wasted trip. nhs.uk says: “Do not go to a GP. They will not be able to give you dental treatment.” A dentist is the right door, and at Widney Dental, in practice hours, that door opens the same day.
Does a cracked tooth heal if you leave it alone?
Here’s the honest answer, and it’s a kind one. The pain may come and go, sometimes for days at a time, and it’s natural to hope the quiet spell means the tooth has sorted itself out. You see, a broken bone can knit back together because it’s full of living cells that rebuild it. The hard outer layer of a tooth has nothing like that, so once it has cracked, the crack stays.
So a quiet tooth is a resting crack, and a resting crack is the perfect moment to have it looked at. The smaller a crack is when a dentist sees it, the smaller the repair it usually needs, which is good for the tooth and kinder on your pocket. That’s the whole reason to ring soon, and it’s a cheerful reason: you’re catching it while the choices are at their widest.
What happens at your same-day emergency appointment
Ring 01564 773080 as early in the day as you can and tell reception it’s an emergency. The earlier you ring, the sooner the slot. In practice hours, Monday to Thursday 8.30am to 6pm and Friday 8.30am to 5pm, you’re given a same-day appointment with one of the practice’s dentists, and nobody will ask you to justify it. Everything that happens on the day is set out on the emergency dentist page, and here’s how it goes for a cracked or broken tooth.
The appointment has one purpose: getting you out of pain and making the tooth safe. The dentist examines the tooth and the area around it, with a small x-ray if it’s needed (£8.50 privately, within the band on the NHS), so the cause is known before anything is done. Then the tooth is numbed and made safe, and a chipped edge is smoothed.
Only then does the talk turn to what comes next. You’re given the plan, with the figure for each part in writing, to decide on when the pain has gone. Nobody talks you into treatment while you’re sitting there sore.
What the plan says depends on the crack, and it usually goes one of four ways.
A small break that a filling can still hold is rebuilt with a white filling, which keeps more of your own tooth and costs less than a crown.
When the tooth needs strength, the answer is a crown for the cracked tooth. Think of the iron hoops round a wooden barrel. Without the hoops the planks would spread apart; with them, the barrel holds. A crown does that for a cracked tooth: it fits over what’s left of it, so the two sides can’t flex apart when you bite, and that’s what stops the jolt. It’s made by a dental laboratory to match your teeth, over two visits.
If the crack has reached the nerve and there’s enough tooth left to rebuild, the tooth can still be kept with root canal treatment, which takes the nerve out from inside the tooth, cleans the canals and seals them, so the pain stops and you keep the tooth. It’s done numb, and it should feel no different from an ordinary filling. A back tooth is then usually crowned, because a tooth without its nerve is more brittle.
And if a tooth has split down the root, or broken below the gum, it can’t be saved, so it’s taken out, gently and numb, and the gap can be filled later.
What a cracked tooth costs at Widney Dental, NHS or private
Widney Dental treats NHS and private patients, so there are two columns. On the NHS, urgent care is one Band 1 charge, £27.90, even when it takes more than one appointment to complete, and the repair afterwards is in the band for that treatment, one charge for the whole course. Privately, the emergency visit is the examination, £75 for a new patient or £45 for an existing one, plus whatever the tooth needs, with the figure told to you before it’s done.
| Treatment | On the NHS | Privately |
|---|---|---|
| Emergency appointment | £27.90, urgent Band 1 | Examination £75 new, £45 existing, plus treatment |
| Small x-ray of the tooth | Included in the band | £8.50 |
| White filling | £76.60, Band 2 | £95 – £225 |
| Root canal, front tooth to molar | £76.60, Band 2 | £195 – £425 |
| Porcelain crown | £332.10, Band 3 | £450 – £550 |
| Tooth taken out, simple | £76.60, Band 2 | £95 – £125 |
| Out-of-hours call-out, tooth stabilised | NHS 111 | £195 |
Where a private figure is a range, that’s because the same treatment is different work on different teeth. A filling is priced by how much of the tooth it rebuilds, a root canal by the tooth (a front tooth has one canal, a molar three or four), and a crown is made for your own tooth in a laboratory. The dentist gives you the exact figure for your tooth before any work starts, and every line is in the Widney Dental fee guide.
Cracked it in the evening or at the weekend?
When the practice is closed, ring NHS 111, who will triage you and direct you to the local urgent dental service. Privately, an out-of-hours call-out with the tooth stabilised is £195. Either way, the repair can be planned with us afterwards.
A cracked or broken tooth on its own is a dentist’s job, and hospitals don’t treat toothache. The emergency page names the few times A&E or 999 is the right door instead: a swelling of the face that is closing an eye, or making it hard to breathe or swallow; bleeding that will not stop after twenty minutes of firm pressure on a clean, folded cloth; or a blow to the face where the jaw may be broken, or where you were knocked out.
Not registered at Widney Dental? Ring anyway
Priority in emergencies goes to the practice’s registered patients. If you’re not registered here, ring anyway: reception will tell you what can be done today, and private appointments can be booked straight away.
So, if that jolt when you bite or let go is a crack moving, it’s a common thing and a very fixable one. Ring 01564 773080 early in the day, come to 76 Widney Road in Knowle, and the first thing anyone does is make it stop hurting.
