Our dental staff here at Bridge Creek Dental understands the urgency of dental emergencies. No one wants to be in pain, and dental pain often requires fast and immediate care.
We do our very best to promptly respond to the emergency dentistry needs of our patients. Even when our office is closed, your dental emergency needs will be quickly forwarded to our dental team by our answering service. So, no matter when your dental disaster occurs, we’re here to assist you.
What Is Emergency Dentistry
When most people think of dentistry, they think of routine dental cleanings and cavities, as that is the extent of many individuals’ experience with the dentists. However, dental emergencies do happen, and there can be a number of things that qualify as a dental emergency, such as:
- A knocked-out tooth
- Broken, cracked, or chipped teeth
- Extremely painful toothache
- Swollen jaw
Each individual person has a different pain threshold. However, any time you’ve suffered from a toothache or oral pain for more than several days, you should see a dentist quickly. Ongoing toothaches can vary in pain level, but, toothaches can often be signs of more serious issues, such as deep tooth decay, or possibly a dental abscess. These conditions can cause serious, even fatal, oral infections.
Do You Always Go To A Dentist For A Dental Emergency
Sometimes, it can be difficult to know who you should go to for your dental emergency—dentist or doctor. An easy rule of thumb to remember is that if you don’t have any other pain or trauma surrounding your dental issue, you should go to the dentist, not a doctor.
For instance, say you get a tooth knocked out during a game of pickup basketball. While you may have a bruise or two, the main injury is the knocked-out tooth, which needs to be addressed by a dentist.
What To Do Prior To Your Emergency Dental Appointment
We do our best to see patients with a dental emergency as soon as possible. However, there can sometimes be a short delay. To help you manage your dental emergency until visiting our dental clinic, some things you can do are:
- Pain management – You can do a number of things to help manage your dental pain, from taking anti-inflammatory painkillers like aspirin, ibuprofen, Advil, and Aleve, to rinsing with warm saltwater. Applying ice packs to the outside of the jaw where the pain is can also help.
- Stay hydrated – Dehydration can exacerbate your dental emergency, but it can be tough to remember to drink water when your teeth hurt. Do your best to keep drinking water to prevent compounding your dental emergency.
- Temporary fill kit – When you have a filling fall out, it can leave a sensitive and painful open area that needs protection. To keep that area covered, you can use a temporary fill kit to cover for the missing filling until our dentist can replace it with a permanent filling.
- Put the tooth back – If you are able, you can place a knocked-out tooth back in your mouth after rinsing it with lukewarm water, touching only the crown. Do not scrub the tooth, just rinse it. But if you can’t place your tooth back in the socket, place it in a container of milk to be transported to our office.
Remember, these are only very short-term measures to help you manage until you can make it into our dental clinic. Please don’t use them to try and delay, as the results can be worse as time passes.
How To Get Emergency Dental Care
The emergency dentists at Bridge Creek Dental can help prevent your condition from getting even worse. We’ve been treating dental emergencies like yours for years. Our specialists know what it takes to put an end to your pain quickly, with the effective dental treatment you need.
To receive emergency dental care, follow these steps:
- Contact our dental clinic and describe your dental emergency.
- If your emergency includes a knocked-out tooth, bring it with you as directed.
- Check-in with our front desk so that our dentists can start working with you promptly.
We’ll also schedule a follow-up visit to ensure that no other emergency issues arise after your visit and to be sure that you are recovering well from your dental emergency.
You don’t have to be in pain. Contact us today to get an evaluation from one of our emergency dental care specialists. We’ll provide you with the emergency dental care you need to stop your pain fast.
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