Dentists have spoken out about some of the more unusual cases they have come across in a bid to remind people that emergency dentistry is not something that should be attempted by the unqualified.
A survey carried out ahead of last month's Chicago Dental Society annual Midwinter Meeting found that some 70 per cent of healthcare practitioners have had to repair damage done by people who try to perform their own treatment.
The most common DIY attempts involved super-glue on crowns and dentures, while filing broken teeth with emery boards featured in several other respondents' reports.
However, others said they had even had to pick up the pieces after patients tried their own root canal treatments with power tools.
The professionals said the poll should encourage people with problems to see a dentist and added that even root canal procedures are not as painful as many expect.
Journalist Nate Delesline of the StarExponent.com may be one person who would agree – he recently wrote an article saying that he wished he had not put off his own root canal for so long, as it was not as bad as he feared.