While there are many dental issues that can wait until the next business day (or two), there are certain conditions that are considered emergencies that could threaten your health, or cost you your smile. These issues should be addressed right away.
Examples of a Dental Emergency
The following are conditions that are considered dental emergencies. You will need to see a dentist immediately or in some cases, even go to the hospital’s emergency room (but not for all of them!)
Extreme Tooth Pain
When you have a tooth infection, the pain that you feel can be so excruciating that you feel helpless. Over-the-counter pain medications or topical numbing gels aren’t going to relieve a true toothache. The only way to get your discomfort under control is to see a dentist. You may need to get a prescription for an antibiotic to reduce the amount of infection present. Antibiotics take a few days to kick in so in the meantime, you can take a stronger prescription pain medication.
If you’re in extreme tooth pain we can also go ahead and treat your tooth by removing it or restoring it with a root canal treatment to get you out of pain.
Facial Swelling
Facial swelling is another sign of a tooth infection. Swelling isn’t something to be toyed with. If not addressed right away, this condition could spread, causing your eyes to swell shut, or your throat to close up, shutting off your airway.
To combat facial swelling, you may need a procedure where we make a small incision inside of your mouth and drain some of the infection away.
Getting on an antibiotic will also help your swelling go down. As we’ve already mentioned, this may take a couple of days to work. But it doesn’t prevent it from coming back.
Severe facial swelling warrants a trip to the nearest hospital emergency room. But if it’s minor swelling, we will go ahead and remove your tooth or perform a root canal treatment to get rid of the infection and save your tooth.
You Have A Fever Caused By A Tooth Infection
Fevers can occur from a severe tooth infection. In that case, you’ll need to get on an antibiotic right away. In some cases, you may need to go to the hospital and receive IV therapy.
A Tooth Has Been Knocked Out of Your Mouth
If you had some kind of accident or sports injury that caused a tooth to get completely knocked out of your mouth ー root and all ー then the quicker you get to the dentist, the better chances you have of being able to save your tooth.
Oftentimes, we can re-implant your tooth, and the bone around it will heal and fuse everything back in place. Time is crucial when it comes to these teeth, so seek assistance right away.
You Have A Dry Socket
After you’ve had a tooth pulled, the socket where the tooth was fills in with a blood clot. Occasionally this plug will get dislodged, causing exposed jaw bone, which is very painful. The strongest pain medications may not even help with this condition.
Luckily, we do have some medication that we can pack in the socket which will make you feel better again.
Broken Front Teeth
If you’ve broken a front tooth then we don’t expect you to walk around in public. Though this is a milder emergency, we do still consider it an emergency and will gladly see you to help put things right again.
A Front Crown Falls Off
If you have a crown in your smile line that comes off, you may be able to slide the cap back over your tooth to buy time until you can get to the dentist. Temporary crown cement can be found in the toothpaste aisle of most stores, which can be used to hold it in place better. But don’t chew on that tooth!
When you come to our Mesa dental office, be sure to bring the crown with you. Sometimes we can reattach the same crown that you have. Otherwise, you will need to have a new one made. We’ll take an x-ray of the area and examine your tooth and crown to determine what the best treatment option is.
Emergency Dentist in Mesa, Arizona
When you’re a patient of Eastport Dental, you can rest assured knowing that we have your back 24/7. If you ever find yourself in a dental emergency situation, we would be glad to see you so just give us a call.
