Dental emergencies can be painful and messy – it’s important to know if your dentist takes these appointments because they can happen at any time. What is a dental emergency? There are several reasons you would call your dentist in an emergency – facial injury that resulted in fractured, chipped, or broken teeth, gum lacerations, or severe infection (such as an abscess). There are also several things you could do at home to temporarily help your pain, bleeding, or inflammation. However, only your dentist will know how to properly treat the break, fracture, laceration, etc.
What Can I Do At Home?
In preparation for your dentist or while you’re waiting to see them, you can apply a cold compress to your cheek (wherever the injury is) to keep the inflammation and swelling down. If you’ve cracked or fractured your tooth – rinse your mouth with some warm water, nothing too hot or cold (your tooth will be too sensitive), to clean the tooth and area of the mouth.
In order to try and preserve a lost tooth, you can attempt to re-administer it to the original socket and keeping it in your mouth until you can get to the dentist. Otherwise, you can purchase a tooth preservation pocket from a pharmacy or drug store in order to keep your tooth moist and intact until your dentist gets their hands on it.
What Will My Dentist Do?
If your dentist is able to meet you, they will assess the situation and see how severe the damage to your tooth or mouth is. Then, they will proceed with recommendations for what they believe would be the best treatment for your situation.
