How to Handle a Dental Emergency

How to Handle a Dental Emergency

How to Handle a Dental Emergency

Any dental pain can feel like an emergency, and it's impossible to ignore any dental problem for very long. Pain is pain but some dental problem are more immediate than others, so how can you tell the difference when they both hurt? Most dental offices don't have a 24 hour service like emergency rooms, but the do have someone on call during business hours 7 days a week. Some dental problems can wait a few days until a scheduled appointment, and other need to be addressed as soon as possible. You can't choose when a dental problem will present itself, but you can control when you go see a dentist about it.

Minor problems can be held off with a common pain reliever and a cold compress until a regular scheduled appointment. Toothaches won't go away on their own and the longer you ignore them, the more serious and potentially damaging they will become. Abscesses are an infection in the root of a tooth or between the tooth and the gum; the infection can spread to the rest of the body if it's left untreated. Objects caught between the teeth can also lead to infections and pain if they are left alone, but none of these problems are considered emergencies that need to be taken care of in the middle of the night. Make an appointment with your dentist as soon as possible and manage the pain with an over the counter pain reliever.

A filling or cap that comes out is a more serious problem, and it needs to be taken care of sooner rather than later. If it's a filling that has fallen out, purchase some over the counter dental cement and fill the hole until you can see the dentist. If it's a crown that has fallen off, keep the crown and make an appointment to see the dentist as soon as possible. Until then, use dental cement and try to putting the crown back in place very gently. These problems can be very painful and make it difficult to eat; but if you can manage the pain, waiting a couple of days to see a dentist won't cause any real damage.

Chipped, Broken, Partially Dislodged and knocked out teeth are very serious problems that are real emergencies. These problems need be addressed immediately to prevent further damage to the tooth and gums. If your tooth chips or breaks, keep the pieces and gently clean them with warm water; then rinse your mouth with warm water and apply gauze to stop any bleeding. For a partially dislodged tooth, apply a cold compress outside the mouth to help dull the pain along with an over the counter pain reliever. When you have tooth that gets knocked out, keep the tooth and clean it with warm water; use gauze to stop the bleeding after rinsing out your mouth with warm water as well. The sooner you can see a dentist in these cases, the better the chances that the dentist can put your teeth back together and restore your smile like new.

The last thing to consider in these cases is how to pay for the damages. If you have a dental plan already, then you have nothing to worry about; just pay the co-pay and go on about your business. If you don't have a dental plan, it's already too late to get one because regular dental insurance has a long waiting period before it kicks in. Ameriplan and other discount dental plans will work in this case because they can save you a lot of money and they work the day after you sign up. Either way, see the dentist as soon as you can and get back to normal life.

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