Chipped or Cracked Tooth: What to Do and What It Costs

A chip off a front tooth is upsetting and usually easy to repair. A crack in a back tooth is barely visible and potentially the more serious of the two. They are worth treating as different problems.

The short answer

A small chip on a front tooth can normally be rebuilt with composite bonding in a single appointment, from £175 per tooth. A cracked back tooth is harder to judge, because how deep the crack runs decides everything: a shallow one may need nothing, a deeper one needs a crown from £600 to hold the tooth together, and one that has split below the gum usually cannot be saved. Cracks tend to get worse rather than stay put, so early assessment genuinely changes the options available.

What to do straight away

• Keep any fragment in milk or saliva. Occasionally a clean piece of a front tooth can be bonded back on, and it is the best possible colour match.
• Rinse gently with warm water and check for other damage to your lips, tongue and other teeth.
• Cover a sharp edge with sugar-free chewing gum or a piece of orthodontic wax if it is cutting your tongue or cheek.
• Stop chewing on that side. A cracked tooth loaded repeatedly is how a fixable crack becomes an extraction.
• Manage sensitivity with sensitive toothpaste rubbed onto the area, and avoid very hot and very cold things.
• Painkillers as directed on the packet if it is sore.

Do not use superglue, and do not file a sharp edge down yourself. Both make the eventual repair harder and more expensive.

The cracked back tooth problem

Cracks are the awkward ones because they are frequently invisible on an X-ray and hard to see with the naked eye. The classic symptom is a sharp jolt when you bite on something and then release, particularly on something hard or fibrous, with nothing wrong the rest of the time. Sensitivity to cold in a single tooth with no visible decay is another common presentation.

What makes it urgent is direction of travel. A crack that has reached the nerve brings root canal treatment into play at £305 plus a crown afterwards. A crack that has run down into the root, splitting the tooth vertically, usually means extraction from £126 and then a decision about replacing it. The gap between a £600 crown and losing the tooth is often a matter of months of continued chewing.

If you also grind your teeth, that is very likely part of the cause and the repair will not last without addressing it. See our guide to teeth grinding.

When to ring the same day

A large fracture exposing the inside of the tooth, bleeding from the tooth itself, throbbing pain, or a tooth that has been knocked loose or out of position all need seeing urgently. If an adult tooth has been knocked out completely, the first hour matters enormously and our guide to a knocked-out tooth sets out the steps.

Go to A&E if there is significant facial injury, a suspected broken jaw, or you cannot bring your teeth together properly.

What the repair options actually are

• Smoothing and polishing. For a tiny chip on an edge, sometimes all that is needed and it costs very little.
• Composite bonding, from £175 per tooth. Tooth-coloured material sculpted onto the tooth in one visit. The standard answer for front-tooth chips.
• A filling, from £125, where a back-tooth cusp has chipped but the tooth is otherwise sound.
• A crown, £600 for precious bonded or £620 for zirconia or Emax, where a cracked tooth needs holding together or too much has been lost for a filling.
• Veneers, composite from £225 or porcelain from £650 per tooth, where the front teeth need reshaping more comprehensively. See veneers costs.
• Extraction and replacement, where the tooth has split. A bridge from £1,175 or an implant from £3,000.

On the NHS, a filling is Band 2 at £76.60 and a crown is Band 3 at £332.10. All our own prices are published on the fees page.

In pain right now? Our two-minute urgency checker tells you honestly whether this is a call-us-today problem or one that can wait, with practical advice in the meantime.

Frequently asked questions

Is a chipped tooth an emergency?

A small chip with no pain is not, and can wait for a routine appointment in the next week or two. A large fracture, exposed inner tooth, bleeding or significant pain needs seeing the same day.

Can a chipped front tooth be fixed invisibly?

Usually, yes. Composite bonding is shaded and layered to match the surrounding tooth and a good repair on a small chip is very hard to spot. Larger repairs on very translucent teeth are more demanding, and we would be honest with you about what is achievable before starting.

Why does my tooth hurt when I bite but not otherwise?

That pattern is close to diagnostic of a crack. The two halves flex apart under load and spring back when you release, which is what produces the sharp jolt. Worth getting looked at before it progresses.

Will a cracked tooth heal?

No. Teeth cannot repair a crack the way bone repairs a fracture, because there is no living tissue in enamel to do it. Left alone, cracks propagate. That is the whole argument for dealing with them early.

If you have chipped or cracked something, ring us on 01625 574609 and bring any fragment with you.

Back to Blog