Top 5 Most Frequent Dental Emergencies & What You Should Do

Preventive dental care procedures and good oral hygiene habits are required if you desire perfect oral health void of diseases. Preventive dental care refers to a series of dental procedures to protect you from oral diseases and infections. These include regular dental examinations and cleanings and other dental procedures to protect your teeth and other oral organs. However, you might take these precautions and yet find yourself in situations where you need urgent dental care. These situations are known as dental emergencies. What do you do when faced with dental emergencies?

Dental emergencies are sudden dental problems that can come with severe pain, discomfort, bleeding, or trauma to the mouth, which require immediate dental care and treatment. Dental emergencies are anything but routine; they are unplanned and can happen in the blink of an eye. Nevertheless, they need urgent dental attention within 24 hours to stop bleeding, ease oral pain and discomfort, and possibly save a tooth. Because of the severe nature of emergencies, not all dental problems are considered emergencies.

Top 5 Most Frequent Dental Emergencies

The following are dental problems that may require emergency dentistry in Vancouver, BC:

• Knocked-out tooth: Your tooth may get knocked out of its socket during sports or from trauma to the face. This is forceful and unnatural; therefore, it might be accompanied by a lot of pain and even bleeding. A knocked-out tooth is a dental emergency that requires urgent dental attention to stop bleeding, ease pain, and prevent permanent loss of teeth.
• Toothache: While a toothache might not sound like a dental emergency, it might be an indication of a range of dental problems and can cause severe pain and discomfort. Driven mainly by pulp infections and stuck objects between two teeth, a toothache’s pain might become intense over time and require the services of an emergency dentist.
• Chipped, Cracked, or Broken tooth: Biting down on hard objects, abnormal use of the teeth, and accidents can cause your tooth to chip, crack, or break. Also, frequent clenching and grinding of your teeth (bruxism) causes them to chip, crack, or break and this warrants a visit to a dental clinic that offers emergency dentistry near you.
• Soft tissues injury: These are injuries of the lips, inside of the cheeks, gums, and tongue. This might lead to bleeding and discomfort and should be given urgent dental attention.
• Abscessed tooth: Here, a pocket of pus forms on the gums under a tooth due to infections in the mouth. Tooth abscesses are usually painful and, if left untreated, can spread to surrounding teeth and gum tissue, and even the rest of the body. Therefore, you need urgent dental care if you have an accessed tooth.

What To Do In Case Of A Dental Emergency

Just as there are first aid measures to apply when faced with a medical emergency, so also, there are things you can do to relieve pain, stop bleeding, and prevent damage while waiting to see a dentist during a dental emergency. The following are first aid instructions that you can carry out during a dental emergency.

• If you have a knocked-out tooth, pick it up by the crown and carefully rinse it while avoiding the root. Do not scrub the tooth while rinsing it, and try to reinsert it in its socket if possible. If not, put the knocked-out tooth into a glass of milk and seek immediate dental help.
• In case of a toothache, rinse your mouth thoroughly with warm water. Gently floss to remove food that might be stuck between your teeth. Do not apply painkillers to the tooth or gum tissues and see a dentist as soon as possible.
• If your tooth is cracked, chipped, or broken, rinse your mouth and apply a cold compress to the affected area to reduce swelling. Seek immediate dental help.
• When faced with injuries of the mouth’s soft tissues, gently clean the affected area with water, apply a cold compress to stop the bleeding, and see a dental professional immediately.
• If you have an abscessed tooth, use a saltwater solution to rinse your mouth thoroughly to draw out pus and ease the pain. See a dentist as soon as possible.

Knowing what to do when there is a dental emergency helps prevent long-term damage, save a tooth, and even save a life. Please book an appointment immediately at the Art of Smile Dental Clinic for urgent dental care.