What to do for a bad tooth
A badly painful, broken, swollen, or decayed tooth needs a dental examination to identify the cause and protect the tooth, drain infection, or remove it.
The short answer
A badly painful, broken, swollen, or decayed tooth needs a dental examination to identify the cause and protect the tooth, drain infection, or remove it when necessary.
What problems can a bad tooth be hiding beneath the symptoms?
A “bad tooth” may have decay reaching dentine or pulp, a crack, a failed filling, gum infection, an abscess, trauma, or a loose tooth. Treatment depends on pulp vitality, remaining tooth structure, periodontal support, bite, and whether infection has spread.
What can you do at home before your dental examination?
Rinse gently, brush around the area, avoid chewing on that side, and record when symptoms began and what triggers them. Do not place aspirin or chemicals on the gum, pierce swelling, or use leftover antibiotics; a dentist may need an examination, cold or electric pulp tests, radiographs, drainage, a filling, root canal treatment, crown, or extraction.
Which symptoms mean a bad tooth needs urgent dental care?
Get urgent dental care for facial swelling, fever, pus, spreading redness, severe worsening pain, uncontrolled bleeding, or difficulty opening the mouth, swallowing, or breathing. After an injury, preserve a displaced or broken fragment and seek immediate advice.
What should you ask about saving or removing the tooth?
Ask what structure is damaged, whether the pulp and supporting bone are involved, which treatments can save the tooth, what happens if it is removed, and what symptoms require emergency escalation.
Frequently asked questions
What determines the best next step?
Pain can come from the pulp, periodontal tissues, or a crack.
Keep reading
Who wrote this page
This library is published by Dental Nation, a licensed dental group practising in the United Arab Emirates. Pages are written and overseen by the same clinical team that treats patients in our clinics, and are held to a fixed editorial standard for safety and accuracy.
This page is patient education, not medical advice, and cannot replace an examination. Anything urgent — facial swelling, trauma, uncontrolled bleeding or severe pain — needs a dentist or emergency care now.