- What is a Dental Emergency?
- What Is Not A Dental Emergency?
- Common Dental Emergencies – What Can I Do Now?
- How to Avoid Potential Emergencies
What is a Dental Emergency?
To help you determine if you can wait to be seen by your dentist or if you need to take a trip to the ER or to an emergency dentist, ask yourself the following questions:
- Are you in severe pain? Sever pain might be pain that wakes you up at night or prevents you from performing your regular daily activities. Severe pain is a sign of a dental emergency.
- Have you lost a tooth? Fast treatment can potentially save a tooth.
- Have you been injured? Do you have teeth that are now visibly fractured, broken, painful, or lose?
- Do you have an infection? Tooth infection is commonly associated with swelling. Swelling that is localized around a tooth should be taken care of soon but is not an emergency requiring immediate attention. However, swelling that has traveled into the face, into the neck region, or up to the eye is cause for concern and requires immediate attention.
- If you have any of these conditions, you may be experiencing a dental emergency. Call your dentist immediately and describe what happened. He or she will give you directions and determine whether your condition requires immediate attention.
Most dentists have an emergency phone number listed on their office telephone voicemail. If you are unable to reach your dentist, or you do not have a dentist, you may need to visit an urgent care facility or emergency room.
Our office, Larsen Dental, enjoys treating emergency patients. We reserve times slots in our daily schedule for emergency patients and can usually see a patient with an emergency the same day. Call us at 970-242-2717.
What Is Not a Dental Emergency?
Many routine dental conditions do not require immediate attention but might require attention within the next few days.
If a tooth is only slightly chipped and does not hurt, an appointment can be made to get it addressed in the next few days. However, a large chipped or cracked tooth is an emergency if the fracture is very large, is very painful, or has left sharp fragments that cause trauma inside your mouth.
A toothache that is merely annoying, does not wake you up at night, or interrupt your daily activities can probably be scheduled within the next few days. Minor toothaches can often be temporarily addressed with over-the-counter pain medications like Advil, Aleve, or Tylenol. However, a toothache with severe pain or with accompanying signs of swelling, or fever are reasons to seek immediate care.
If you have a tooth that has lost a crown or filling, you most likely should have it fixed within the next few days. If you have lost a filling, sometimes you stabilize your situation by temporarily sticking a piece of sugar-free gum into the cavity space. With a lost crown, you can try putting the crown back in place temporarily with denture adhesive or over-the-counter dental cement or even toothpaste (don’t use super glue.)
Gums that bleed when you brush, or floss are signs of gum disease. While this is a condition you should get taken care of soon, it does not require immediate attention.
With all of these conditions it is important to make an appointment with your dentist soon, to prevent more damage from occurring.
Common Dental Emergencies - What Can I Do Now?
Severe Tooth Pain
Knocked-Out Tooth
Cracked or Chipped Tooth
Tooth Infection or Abscess
Usually, antibiotics will be prescribed to begin fighting the infection. Sometimes draining the abscess by a dental professional is also required. A patient with severe swelling, difficulty breathing, fever, and or general malaise will need treatment in an emergency room and IV administered antibiotics may be necessary.
How to Avoid Potential Emergencies
Early detection of dental problems is key. Dental problems are often like a crack in the windshield of a car. Detected early, the repair is often relatively simple, painless, and less expensive. Delaying care, often leads to more involved, more complex, and more expensive care.
Larsen Dental Welcomes Emergency Patients
At Larsen Dental, we enjoy meeting and treating emergency patients. Many of our patients who have been coming to our office for decades were first introduced to us through an emergency appointment. Dr. Larsen enjoys surprising emergency patients with how painless and efficient the treatment can be to fix their problem. We are confident we can help you! Contact our office at 970-242-2717.