You’re at work and suddenly you feel a sharp pain in your tooth. You try to ignore it, but the pain gets worse and eventually you have to give in and call your dentist. But when you do, you find out that they’re closed for the day. Now what? If you find yourself in this situation, don’t panic! We at Royal East Dental offer same day dental emergency appointments to help you get relief so you can continue smiling. We will explore some of the dental emergencies that we see most often in our Dundas, Hamilton office, and how we can help you through them.
When a dental emergency strikes, you need to act fast. Like any medical emergency, getting treatment on time is crucial, the same holds true for dental emergencies. The faster you can get to a dentist, it ensures the timely pain relief and also a better outcome of saving your tooth.
If you’re in the Dundas or Hamilton area, we can help. We offer urgent same day dental care for those in need. Dental emergencies can happen any time, so we believe in providing assistance to you when you need it the most without letting it linger on.
There are a few dental emergencies that are more common than others:
If you have a severe toothache, it is best to arrange for a dental visit earlier the better. An infected tooth nerve, deep cavity, broken tooth can all lead to severe toothache. Sometimes, it can manifest as hot and cold sensitivity. Pain can be lingering, throbbing in nature based on different root cause of pain, so it is important to get it checked out by a professional. You can take ibuprofen or acetaminophen for the pain management, but you should not put anything on your gums or teeth because this could make the pain worse. Also, be cautious while using any home remedies as some over the counter oils as it can lead to local burns at the site of application.
It’s the term used for a tooth that is knocked out from socket as a result of trauma/injury. it’s most common in kids and young adults, but adults can also get tooth knocked out due to trauma. If it happens, the first step is to locate the tooth as it may be required to reposition on seeing the dentist. Tooth avulsion is the most time critical dental emergency as seeing the dentist on time with the tooth, can ensure tooth to be replaced and improve chances of replantation. Once you have found the tooth, you should rinse it off with water gently without scrapping/brushing and try to put it back in the socket. If you are unable to do this, you can put the tooth in a cup of milk or water. Dentist would assess the tooth and the site of trauma and depending on the type of tooth, adult or baby and kind of trauma, dentist will provide adequate treatment. You should then see a dentist as soon as possible.
Fallen out fillings is not unusual. But if left untreated, the decay may progress further leading to ultimately loss of tooth. As a home remedy, you may try getting some sticky wax or over the counter temporary filling material. Though it’s not ideal, but at least it will protect your tooth from sensitivity and pain. But your priority should be to make an appointment to your dentist as soon as possible. At Royal East Dental, we offer same day emergency dental appointments for this very reason, so you don’t have to wait to get your tooth fixed.
A dental infection can lead to abscess/ swelling at the site of tooth involvement. You may try using warm salt water rinsing as it can help to reduce swelling at the site and sometimes even stimulates drainage of abscess. But in any case, make sure to book an appointment with dentist so that exact root cause of source of infection can be identified and appropriate treatment can be rendered to prevent this from happening again. Make sure to keep an eye on abscess increasing in size that it doesn’t spread to other parts of body/ causes difficulty in breathing.
If you have lost a filling, rinse your mouth with warm water and try to place it back in place using dental adhesive or sugarless gum. If it does not stay in place, cover it with dental adhesive or sugarless gum until you can get in to see us. For a lost crown, try to find it and bring it in with you when you come in for your appointment. Rinsing the mouth with warm water and a cold compress can help reduce the swelling.
Biting on something hard can lead to a chipped/cracked tooth, if it happens make sure to see a dentist right away to prevent further complications. If the chip or crack is deep, it may be causing pain, you can take ibuprofen/advil or acetaminophen to help with the pain. Rinsing with warm water can help removing any broken pieces. If there’s active bleeding at the site of broken tooth, applying gentle pressure with clean gauze/cotton can help. You should also avoid eating hard foods or chewing on hard objects until you have seen a dentist.
Speak to the dentist/ Emergency dental front desk: As Emergencies can happen any time, that’s why we treat emergency dental visits with utmost priority. You may reach out to us at this number and our dentist/Emergency front desk would try to schedule you in at earliest and also answer your queries.
Several medications available over the counter can help ease off the toothache. Pain killers such as Tylenol(acetaminophen), Advil( Ibuprofen) , Aspirin can be of help. Be advised that aspirin has anticoagulant effect so it can have its side effects. Ibuprofen is not safe for some patients with cardiac issues. The best approach is to reaching out to a dentist and booking an emergency dental appointment.
Dental emergency is a broad term that can cover wide range of issues. A broken tooth, dental trauma, tooth infection, lost filling or a lost crown can all be dental emergency depending on the severity of symptoms. Regardless of the kind of dental emergency, it is important to see a dentist without any delay to ensure prevention of any further complications.
Absolutely NO. Any sort of dental pain should never be ignored. Even if you get relief with over-the-counter medications, it’s important to get it properly examined, so the underlying cause can be fixed. Else, it may resurface and may lead to loss of tooth, severe infections.
Typically, the cost of emergency dental visit entails an exam fee and any X-Rays the dentist may require to help identifying the problem. The cost of treatment to fix the problem doesn’t increase even if it’s emergency visit.
Yes, you may and the doctors may prescribe you antibiotics but still you would have to make a visit to the dentist to get permanent solution. Keep in mind, the wait times in emergency rooms, can be very long and often times, priority may be given to other patients in critical stages over a dental emergency depending on severity of your dental problem.