A chunk of my molar just came off... what do I do?

[Smokering]

Well, that was odd. I was eating dinner and bit into something hard - might have been a bit of rock salt - and a whole corner of one of my molars came off. I can see where it's missing and there's kind of a pale brownish, off-white substance that I assume is the internals of my tooth. It doesn't feel pulpy or anything, and it doesn't hurt. I saved the tooth fragment in some milk.

Anyhoo, I'm assuming I should go to the dentist tomorrow. I haven't been for ages (heh; possibly a mistake!) and I need the hippie lowdown. What should I avoid? I'm 11 weeks pregnant. Will they want to cap the tooth? Is it safe, pregnancy-wise, for me to get a scale and polish on my other teeth while I'm there? I've been noticing some tartar buildup behind my front teeth. Do I need to know anything about anaesthetics and pregnancy, or... anything? And, um, will this be hideously expensive?

[lindberg99]

I've had my teeth cleaned during all my pregnancies with no problems. I also had to get a crown on a broken molar while I was pregnant. The dentist used only novacaine, which is local, and that was fine. Crowns are expensive. Do you have dental insurance? If so, check their coverage on crowns before you go to dentist. Mine would only cover stainless steel crowns so I had to pay extra, maybe $300, for a tooth colored crown (I think it's called a composite). But that was like 10 years ago so who knows what it would cost now.

[mich]

This happened to me a few years ago. It was my last molar on the bottom. I went in and they polished down the sharp edge, but it needed a crown to fix it and I didn't have the money at the time. I debated just pulling it for a few years. Then just this year I went a head and had a crown done. But for 2-3 years it just stayed broken.

[tanyalynn]

That happened to my mom a few years ago, I think not long after their move, not sure if she'd found a new dentist yet, but she just didn't do anything.  I think over time the really rough edges have worn down a bit, but it's been several years now and it doesn't seem to have caused any harm that she's noticed.