Emergency Dental

Emergency Dental

Accidents happen, and sometimes the damage requires an emergency dentist visit. Luckily for our patients, Hale Family Dental offers emergency dental services whenever disaster strikes.

What is a dental emergency?

Sometimes it can be hard to tell the difference between an emergency and a non-emergency. Dental emergencies include:

  • Excruciating pain

  • Tooth loss

  • Loose teeth

  • Infection or abscessed tooth

  • Excessive bleeding

If you experience any of these symptoms you should call your dentist right away. Even if it is after office hours, they may give an emergency phone number in the voicemail message, or you can try checking their website for an emergency phone number.

What is not a dental emergency?

Anything that does not require immediate attention is not considered a dental emergency. Common problems that are not an emergency include:

  • a chipped or cracked tooth that is not painful

  • a toothache without severe pain

  • lost crown or filling

Handling a dental emergency

While you are waiting to receive treatment from your dentist, there are precautions you can take until then.

Tooth loss

If you can find the tooth, pick it up by the crown, making sure to not touch the root. Carefully rinse the tooth, but do not scrub it. Reinsert the tooth into the socket if you can, but if not, store the tooth in a small container of milk until your dentist can see you.

Lost filling or crown

If you lost a filling, chew a piece of sugar-free gum and place it over the cavity until you can see your dentist. For a lost crown, use a denture adhesive or over-the-counter dental cement to put the crown back in place temporarily.

Abscessed tooth

A tooth abscess is an infection that can cause tooth sensitivity, a constant toothache, facial swelling, fever, sensitive lymph nodes, or a bump on your gums. If you have these symptoms, you should see your dentist right away. Before treatment, rinse your mouth with salt water to help with the pain.

Call Hale Family Dental if you believe you have a dental emergency, and we’ll do our best to help you.