What is Emergency Dental Care?

Accidents happen quickly and unexpectedly. The type of injury that has been sustained will determine if you need emergency dental care in dayton or if you need to make a trip to the emergency room. Most of the time, your regular family dentist will be able to see you within a couple of hours at the most but if the injury is more severe, you may not be able to wait for your dentist if they are not yet open. Dental offices usually leave an emergency contact number on their phone message so that patients are able to reach the on call doctor outside of regular business hours.

A chipped tooth can usually wait but a cracked or broken tooth is a different story! Cracks can cause immense pain though even if you are not hurting, it can be important to get to your dentist as soon as possible to avoid further damage to the tooth and root structure. Nerve damage can occur in an untreated cracked tooth and being proactive can save you a lot of pain (and money!) in the long run.

If a tooth has been completely knocked out of the socket, locate the tooth if you can and gently rinse it with warm water, taking care to hold the tooth by the crown and not touching the roots. Rinse your mouth with warm water and try to put the tooth back in place. If you are able, gently bite on a clean, damp cloth to help hold the tooth in place while you quickly make your way to your dentist’s office. If you are not able to get the tooth back in, it is not a lost cause! After rinsing in warm water, carefully place the tooth in milk and gently bite on that clean, damp cloth to control bleeding at the exposed socket. Get yourself and your tooth to your dentist quickly.

Any severe pain could be serious and needs to be addressed immediately. Call your dental office so you can be seen right away. Since emergencies happen every day, most dentists save time in their schedule so they can care for their patients quickly and efficiently. If your pain develops outside of regular business hours, call the office anyway. Your dentist likely has an emergency number to reach the on call doctor and will be able to see you quickly. If for some reason these options are not available, go to the emergency room.

At the very least, a hospital will be able to get you out of pain so that you can manage until you are able to see your regular dentist. Medical professionals want you to receive the care you need, regardless of where you get it. Your dentist will be glad that you were able to receive the immediate attention you needed to find relief. Facial and dental traumas can be frightening. Your care is everyone's concern.

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