Broken or chipped tooth
Broken tooth? We'll fix it before it gets worse.
From smoothing a small chip to rebuilding a serious fracture, repairs happen in-house on Thomson Drive. Call any hour and you're scheduled on the spot, usually into a same-day or next-morning slot.
Answered 24/7 · Same-day slots Mon to Fri
First, do this
Take a breath. A broken tooth feels dramatic, but the next steps are simple. Start by calling 540-315-3725; whatever the hour, our smart answering system books your visit right then. While you wait:
- 1. Rinse your mouth with warm salt water to clean the area gently.
- 2. Save any fragments in milk. Drop the pieces in a small container of milk and bring them with you. Sometimes they can be bonded back.
- 3. Cold compress on the outside of the cheek. Twenty minutes on, twenty minutes off, to keep swelling down.
- 4. Cover a sharp edge if you can. A bit of sugar-free gum or dental wax over the rough spot protects your tongue and cheek until we can smooth it properly.
- 5. Over-the-counter pain relief, as the package directs, if the tooth is aching. Chew on the other side and skip anything hard or sticky.
How bad is it? The honest answer.
Broken teeth live on a spectrum. At one end is the small cosmetic chip, a flake of enamel lost to a popcorn kernel or an ice cube, annoying but harmless. In the middle are cracks and larger breaks that expose the softer layer beneath the enamel, which is when sensitivity to cold and sweet shows up. At the far end is a fracture deep enough to reach the nerve inside the tooth, which usually announces itself with real pain. Here's the thing: you can't reliably tell where your tooth falls on that spectrum from the bathroom mirror, and you don't have to. The exam and X-ray sort it out quickly, and knowing exactly what broke is what makes the repair right the first time.
What treatment looks like
Every repair a broken tooth might need happens here in our 15-operatory office, handled by Dr. Kim and Dr. Azevedo. For small chips, smoothing the edge or rebuilding the corner with tooth-colored bonding often takes a single visit. Larger breaks and cracks usually call for a crown, which caps and protects what's left of the tooth so the crack can't keep traveling. When the break has reached the nerve, a root canal comes first, done in-house, and then the crown goes on. And in the rare case where too little tooth remains to save, we'll have an honest conversation about extraction and replacing the tooth, with nothing irreversible done until you've heard every option. Because we hold same-day emergency slots Monday through Friday, most broken teeth are evaluated within hours of the call, not days.
Cracks only grow. Calls only take a minute.
Call 540-315-3725 any hour. We answer 24/7 and schedule you on the spot; repairs happen Monday through Friday, 8 to 5.
Reviewed by Dr. Jihoon Kim, DDS, July 2026
Common questions
Frequently asked
- What if I call after hours?
- You still reach a real scheduling system, not a voicemail. Our smart answering picks up 24/7, nights and weekends included, and books you on the spot, typically into a same-day or next-morning emergency slot. The repair itself happens during office hours, Monday through Friday 8 to 5, so a Friday night break usually means a Monday morning chair, already reserved before you go to bed.
- It broke but it doesn't hurt. Do I still need to come in?
- It's worth a call, yes. A painless chip can leave a sharp edge that cuts your tongue, and a break that exposes the softer layer under the enamel invites decay and bigger cracks later. A quick evaluation tells us whether it can wait comfortably a few days or needs a same-day visit.
- Can the broken piece be reattached?
- Sometimes. If you have the fragment, keep it in a small container of milk and bring it with you. When reattachment isn't possible, tooth-colored composite resin rebuilds the missing shape so naturally that most people can't find the repair afterward.
- Will a broken tooth need a root canal?
- Only when the break reaches the nerve inside the tooth. A chip in the enamel doesn't come close. A deeper fracture might, and the exam and X-ray tell us for sure. If the nerve is involved, the root canal happens here in our office, followed by a crown to protect the tooth long-term.
- Can a cracked tooth heal on its own?
- No. Teeth don't mend the way skin or bone does. Once a crack starts, chewing forces slowly work it deeper, which is why a tooth that only twinges occasionally today can split later. Stabilizing it early, often with a crown, is what saves it.
- What if the tooth can't be saved?
- If a break runs below the gum line or splits the tooth, extraction is sometimes the kindest option. When that happens, we talk through replacement before anything irreversible is done, and because implants are planned and placed by our own team, that conversation happens in the same building with the same doctors.
- What will the repair cost?
- It depends on what the tooth needs, and you'll have a clear quote before we start. The emergency exam and X-rays are a modest, defined cost. No insurance? Virginia Dental Club members ($279 a year) get 20% off treatment, and financing is available for larger repairs like crowns.
Broke a tooth? Call before it grows.
540-315-3725 is answered every hour of every day. You'll be scheduled before you hang up, with same-day emergency slots held Monday through Friday.