Emergency Dentistry

What is a dental emergency?

Dental emergencies can take various forms, such as a sudden and severe toothache, a chipped or cracked tooth caused by an accident, a damaged or loose restoration, or a lost or damaged tooth. To determine if your situation is an emergency, ask yourself the following questions:

• Are you experiencing severe pain or swelling?
• Do you have a persistent and painful toothache?
• Is one of your teeth loose or knocked out?
• Are you feeling swelling in your cheeks or face along with a toothache?
• Are you experiencing extreme tooth sensitivity?
• Do you have bleeding from the mouth that won’t stop?
• Is your jaw injured?

Generally, any dental problem requiring immediate treatment to stop bleeding, relieve severe pain, or save a tooth is an emergency. This also includes severe infections that may be life-threatening and need professional care as soon as possible.

What’s the best way to handle a dental emergency?

If you have a dental emergency, the best action is to contact your dentist. However, if the issue is too severe or outside regular office hours, you should head to the nearest emergency room.

Depending on the type of dental emergency you are experiencing, there are some things you can do to alleviate the pain and help the situation. Here are a few things you can try:

• Dissolve a teaspoon of salt in a mug of warm water and use it as a mouthwash.
• Try flossing to relieve any gum pressure.
• Use a cold compress on the swollen or painful area.
• Rinse with diluted Hydrogen Peroxide to eliminate bacteria.
• Take over-the-counter pain medication to ease the pain.

What should I do if I have a knocked out tooth?

If you have lost a tooth, it is essential to handle it with care to ensure that it can be put back in place. Here are the steps you should follow:

1. Don’t touch the roots or top of the tooth. The roots of your teeth are delicate, so you should only pick up and handle the lost tooth by the sides and chewing surface.
2. Clean the tooth gently. You can use water or milk to rinse the tooth gently, but do not try to rub, scrub, dry off, or use soaps or chemicals to clean it.
3. Put the tooth back in the socket, if possible. Once you have gently cleaned it, try to gently replace the tooth, handling only the sides and bottom. You can softly bite down once it is back in place to keep it there. Make sure the tooth is oriented correctly and not backward. Do not force it if it won’t fit properly.
4. If you can’t put it back, keep it moist. Placing the tooth in a glass of milk is a good option. Alternatively, you can hold the tooth between your gums and cheek, but this should not be done with younger children who could swallow the tooth. Do not use tap water to soak a knocked-out tooth because it could damage the roots. If you don’t have cow’s milk and can’t hold your tooth in its socket or your cheek, spitting into a container and soaking the tooth in saliva is the next best option.
5. Call the dentist. Getting to a dentist as quickly as possible is critical. It is possible to reattach a tooth an hour or more after it has been knocked out, but the sooner you can see a dentist, the better the chances are of reattaching it.