Cracks only travel one direction: deeper. Here is how to spot one, what to do with a broken tooth today, and how depth decides treatment.
Pain on biting, especially on release, is the classic sign of a cracked tooth. Cracks do not heal and are most treatable when caught early. Family Dental Care Missouri assesses and treats cracked and broken teeth at 1010 Walnut St, Suite 280, downtown Kansas City, with same-day emergency slots where possible. Call (816) 439-7715.
Reviewed by Dr. Navkiran Warya, DDS - August 2026
Right nowSave any fragments in milk or a clean container. Rinse gently with warm water. If an edge is sharp against your tongue or cheek, cover it with sugar-free chewing gum. Avoid chewing on that side and avoid extreme temperatures. Then call: a break with pain, bleeding from the center of the tooth, or a visible pink spot is a same-day matter because the nerve may be exposed, while a clean chip that causes no pain should still be seen within a day or two before it grows an opinion. The emergency page covers the wider playbook, including the $99 emergency exam.
Depth decides| How deep | What it means | Usual treatment |
|---|---|---|
| Surface craze lines | Cosmetic only, common with age | None, or polishing / bonding |
| Chip in the enamel | Shape lost, nerve safe | Bonding, sometimes a veneer |
| Crack into the tooth body | Tooth flexes and aches on biting | Crown to bind it together |
| Crack reaching the nerve | Lingering temperature pain | Root canal, then a crown |
| Split root | The tooth cannot be saved | Extraction, replacement planned first |
The uncomfortable truth in that table is the gradient: every row is cheaper and kinder than the one below it, and cracks move down the table on their own. Heavily filled back teeth and night-time grinders are the usual candidates, which is why we flag at checkups the teeth that are one hard olive pit away from the third row, and why a night guard is the best crack insurance a grinder can buy.
The signature of a crack is pain on biting, and often more on releasing the bite than on closing, plus sensitivity that is oddly selective, one spot, one angle, one food. Many cracks are invisible to the eye and do not show on X-rays either, so diagnosis leans on bite tests and how the symptoms behave. If chewing has become something you do carefully on one side, that is the sign to book. Call (816) 439-7715.
No. Tooth structure does not knit back together the way bone does, and chewing forces work on a crack thousands of times a day, so cracks only stay the same or grow. The entire game with cracks is catching them while they are still above the gumline and treatable, because a crack that runs below the gum or splits the root usually ends the tooth. Early beats clever every time here. Call (816) 439-7715.
If there is no pain, it is urgent rather than an emergency: cover any sharp edge with sugar-free gum, save the fragment if you have it, and be seen within a day or two. If the chip exposed a pink or bleeding center, or the tooth now hurts to air and temperature, the nerve may be exposed and that is a same-day call. Small chips are often repaired in one visit with bonding. Call (816) 439-7715.
It depends entirely on how deep the crack runs. Shallow chips and craze lines may need only bonding or polishing. A crack into the body of the tooth typically needs a crown to hold the tooth together. If the crack has reached the nerve, root canal treatment comes first. A crack that splits the root means extraction and a planned replacement. The exam locates the crack; the depth picks the treatment. Call (816) 439-7715.
Most cracks we see have one of three biographies: chewing ice or hard candies, a large old filling that left thin walls of tooth around it, or years of night-time grinding. So the prevention list is short and practical: retire the ice habit, let us monitor and, when needed, crown heavily filled teeth before they fail, and if you wake with aching jaws, ask about a night guard, which costs a fraction of the crack it prevents. Call (816) 439-7715.