Dental emergencies can often occur in unavoidable circumstances and may require urgent care and attention. However, not every type of dental issue is in need of immediate intervention. Knowing what kind of dental problems constitute a dental emergency is imperative when looking for a dentist near you who offers emergency dental services.
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Common Dental Emergencies
Loss of Tooth:
Tooth loss can occur in people of all ages due to various reasons like injuries or infections; although tooth avulsions usually occur more commonly in children than in adults.
What You Need to Do: If the tooth has been avulsed along with its root, pick up the tooth by its crown (never by its root as it can cause damage to the tooth) and rinse it with some water. Try to place the tooth gently back into the gum socket and hold it in place using a clean piece of gauze or paper towel.
If the tooth cannot be placed back into the socket, keep it soaked in a glass of milk or clean water. Visit an emergency dentist near you as soon as you can, since time is of utmost importance in such cases in order to retain the vitality of the tooth.
Injury to Face:
Injuries to the face or mouth region can cause trauma to the soft tissues, often accompanied with bleeding and even broken teeth. The injury may result in shattered teeth with large broken fragments, chipped teeth or simply cracked teeth that haven’t broken off yet.
A small chip or crack to the tooth may not seem like a dental emergency initially, but it is still important to see a dentist as soon as possible in order to protect the integrity of the remaining tooth structure. Bleeding that does not stop even after applying pressure to the region needs urgent medical intervention and should not be ignored.
What You Need to Do: Try to assess the extent of injury to your mouth and teeth and gently rinse to clean the area. Apply pressure to the injured region with a clean gauze or cloth if there is any bleeding and take analgesics to alleviate any pain. Get in touch with an emergency dentist immediately and keep the broken fragment of tooth safe till you can see the dentist.
Displaced Tooth:
Sometimes, instead of an avulsion or break, the tooth may simply be displaced within the gum socket itself. This can occur due to injuries, or even an erupting wisdom tooth that may displace the teeth adjacent to it.
What You Need to Do: Tooth displacement that occurs due to injuries may be a very painful condition and constitutes a dental emergency. Moreover, a displaced tooth that is not set properly in its gum socket may lead to permanent damage to the tooth. Avoid trying to fix the tooth in its place yourself and get in touch with an emergency dentist as soon as possible.
Tooth displacement that occurs due to other causes like wisdom tooth eruption may lead to discomfort due to bite changes. While it is not essentially a dental emergency, it is preferable to see a dentist for this dental issue as well.
Toothache:
Toothaches may occur due to erupting or impacted wisdom teeth, infections of the root canal, or injuries. A chronic infection may lead to a severe toothache accompanied with facial swelling, pus drainage or even difficulty in swallowing or breathing.
What You Need to Do: Strong analgesics and painkillers may help with a severe toothache until you can see a dentist. Rinsing your mouth with a glass of lukewarm water and one tablespoon of salt may also help relieve pain temporarily. In case of a tooth abscess, the pain may not subside completely even with painkillers and seeing an emergency dentist may be essential at this point.
Damaged Dental Work:
Dental problems like broken braces, a dislodged filling or dental crown, or a broken denture are also commonly occurring dental emergencies. While these problems do not require extremely urgent care, there may be discomfort associated with an orthodontic wire poking inside the mouth or sensitivity associated with a dislodged filling or dental crown.
What You Need to Do: Keep the dislodged bracket, broken denture or dental restoration safe with you and get in touch with your emergency dentist as soon as you can.
Apart from the conditions mentioned above, you may encounter a variety of other non-emergency dental issues like cavities or gum disease. While immediate treatment may not be a necessity for such conditions, it is still advisable to schedule a visit to your dentist soon to prevent the worsening of these dental issues.
How to Find an Emergency Dentist Near You?
Finding an emergency dentist can be quite a hassle, especially when faced with a last-minute situation that warrants immediate intervention.
Choosing a reliable dental practice that offers emergency services is always a preferable option than going to the emergency room when faced with a dental issue that requires urgent care. For starters, it saves you from the overcrowded atmosphere of the emergency room. Additionally, a legitimate dental practice offering emergency services is better equipped in terms of staff and infrastructure to deal with oral emergencies than hospital emergency rooms.
In case of encountering a dental emergency during office hours, make sure you contact your dentist to schedule an appointment immediately. Most dentists can build time into their schedule to see patients who require urgent dental care.
If you need dental care during your dental office’s non-working hours or during a holiday, try and get in touch with them anyway. They might be able to offer some basic instructions to follow that could help you till you are able to receive proper dental care.
Going to a hospital emergency room may be required in cases where there is no option available with an emergency dentist. While patients are provided adequate medical intervention at the emergency room, you will need to visit your dentist soon as feasible to address the underlying dental issue.
At Brooklyn Blvd Dental, we offer our patients the very best in emergency dental care and are always here to answer your queries. Get in touch with us today to avail our services and know more about the various ways we can help you with all your dental concerns.
