What Constitutes an Emergency?

We consider any painful or traumatic dental injury or oral health concern to be an emergency. Each patients’ pain threshold is different, but it’s always better to schedule an emergency visit than to wait and risk further damage. Some of the dental emergencies we see most often include:

• Knocked out, cracked, or broken teeth
• Knocked out, cracked, or broken dental restorations (crowns, inlays, bridges, etc)
• Damaged partial or full dentures
• Severe toothache that may be indicative of root canal infection
• Soft tissue injuries

WHAT SHOULD I DO WHEN AN EMERGENCY HAPPENS?

If you’re one of our valued patients, your first step during any dental emergency is to call our office. After that, we have a few first aid and pain management tips you can use to ensure your smile remains intact.

• Clean – it’s important to keep damaged or injured areas clean, but it’s essential to retain as much natural tissue as possible. For this reason, we encourage patients to gently swish cool water, but avoid using tooth brushes or mouthwashes in most cases. One notable exception is toothache. If you experience discomfort or gum tissue swelling around a specific tooth, this may be caused by foreign objects lodged between teeth. Gently floss around the tooth and brush. If the toothache persists, we will need to examine your smile.
• Cold – using icepacks or cold compresses at 20 minute intervals (20 on/20 off) helps slow bleeding, reduce swelling, and relieve pain.
• Calm – perhaps the most important tip we can give you is to stay calm. We understand that this is often easier said than done, but being upset or frightened raises blood pressure which negatively impacts patients’ ability to assess their level of pain and damage.