Dental emergencies can happen at any time, and it’s important to know what to do in such situations to minimize pain and prevent further damage. Whether it’s a sudden toothache, a broken tooth, or a lost filling, it’s important to seek prompt and proper care to prevent long-term consequences. Here’s what you need to know about emergency dental care.
What Constitutes a Dental Emergency?
A dental emergency is any situation that requires immediate attention to prevent severe pain, bleeding, or permanent damage to the teeth, gums, or jaw. Some common dental emergencies include:
- Toothache: A sudden, severe pain in a tooth can be a sign of a deep cavity, an abscess, or an infected tooth.
- Broken or chipped tooth: A broken or chipped tooth can cause pain, sensitivity, and bleeding.
- Lost filling or crown: A lost filling or crown can expose the sensitive inner part of the tooth and cause pain.
- Knocked-out tooth: A knocked-out tooth is a serious emergency and requires immediate attention.
- Soft tissue injury: A cut or injury to the lips, tongue, or gums can cause bleeding and require immediate attention.
What Should You Do in a Dental Emergency?
In a dental emergency, the first step is to remain calm and take the following actions:
- Rinse your mouth with warm water to clean the affected area.
- Apply a cold compress to the outside of your cheek or lip to reduce swelling and pain.
- If you have a broken or chipped tooth, try to save the broken piece and bring it with you to the dentist.
- If you have a knocked-out tooth, pick it up by the crown (not the root) and rinse it gently with water. Do not scrub it or remove any attached tissues. If possible, try to put the tooth back in its socket and hold it in place with your tongue or a piece of gauze.
- Contact your emergency dentist as soon as possible.
Finding an Emergency Dentist
It’s important to have the phone number of an emergency dentist readily available in case of a dental emergency. You can ask your regular dentist in rosenberg for a recommendation, or search for emergency dental services in your area online.
When you call the emergency dentist, describe the symptoms and the extent of the emergency, so that they can provide the appropriate instructions and arrange an appointment as soon as possible.
What exactly is a dental emergency?
A dental emergency is defined as a dental problem that requires immediate attention. If you do not seek treatment, you may experience severe pain, tooth loss, extensive and costly treatment(s), or harm to your oral and possibly overall health.
- Continuous bleeding
- Swelling in or around the mouth that is unusual.
- Pain in one or more teeth or in the jaw bone.
- Gum infection accompanied by pain or swelling
- A broken or knocked-out tooth.
- Unstable adult tooth.
- Restoration damage or loss (filling, crown, denture, bridge, etc.).
- Increased tooth sensitivity.
- Tooth numbness
- Abscess in the mouth.
What are the symptoms of a dental emergency?
When anyone has a dental emergency, it is sometimes obvious. Such as accidentally knocking out an adult tooth or experiencing excruciating tooth pain.
However, some dental scenarios may be unclear as to whether they necessitate emergency dental care. Sometimes people may believe that they can avoid seeing the dentist for treatment because they are not in pain or don’t mind the broken tooth. But ignoring or postponing dental care will almost certainly necessitate additional dental care in the future.
Why should patients seek emergency dental care instead of ER?
Going to any random ER should not be an option if someone is experiencing severe pain or discomfort inside their mouth. Most emergency rooms do not have on-staff dentists. As a result, if we go to them for dental emergency treatment, they may be only able to give us pain relievers and antibiotics.
If we only deal with the symptoms and not the underlying cause, the situation may worsen over time. We will still need to see our dentist for treatment to properly treat our dental emergency. So going to ERs will just cost us more money and time.
Need a dental emergency consultation now?
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