What Is a Dental Emergency?

It is a dental problem characterized by urgency and often severity. It dictates seeking quick medical attention in emergency dentistry in Fort Saskatchewan, AB. Ideally, dental emergencies do not announce when they will show up. It is usually abrupt, often catching you by surprise. However, some dental emergencies develop from progressed dental problems that have remained untreated for a long time. The good news is that you can trust an emergency dentist near you to diagnose, treat and manage your urgent dental problems.

What Kind of Issues Can an Emergency Dentist Deal with?

Not all dental problems are emergencies. Emergency dentists in Fort Sask dental clinic handle dental issues whose nature are:

• Excruciating pain
• Significant swelling that keeps spreading to other parts of the body.
• A high risk of infecting other healthy parts of the oral cavity.
• Prolonged bleeding.

With such identifiers, an emergency dentist can treat a variety of dental problems, including the following:

• Knocked-out tooth – your tooth can be completely knocked off or partially dislodged.
• Severe toothache – toothaches are typically due to advanced dental decay or dental trauma.
• A broken jaw and fractured tooth
• A foreign object stuck between teeth.
• Swollen throat and tongue – can be due to dental trauma, an allergic reaction, or an infection.
• Jaw lock – common when you have a temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD) so that your jaw remains stuck when you open your mouth.
• Loose or missing dental restoration – can be a dental crown, tooth filling, metal braces, oral bridgework, or fixed denture. A broken, loose, or lost dental appliance can regress the outcome of your initial treatment unless it is repaired or replaced soon.

How Soon Should You Visit an Emergency Dentist?

If you have the opportunity to drop everything you are doing and immediately visit a dental clinic near you, you should. However, the rule of thumb should be to manage your dental emergency as you make efforts to see a dentist as soon as possible. Some of the things you should do to manage your oral health before you visit us at Town Crest Dental Clinic are:

• Preserve the tooth – locate the knocked-out tooth and preserve it in milk. Avoid touching the tooth root so you can increase its viability regarding restoring it.
• Swish salt water in your mouth – it will help dislodge any debris between teeth while destroying any active bacteria in your mouth.
• Control the bleeding – place a clean cloth or gauze over the bleeding spot to stop the bleeding.
• Keep your head elevated – the goal is to prevent blood pooling in your head which may worsen your pain and swelling.
• Take pain medication – over-the-counter pain medicine will only suppress the pain for a while before you visit an emergency dentist for treatment.

Why Is It Important to See an Emergency Dentist Right Away?

Ultimately, you must consult an emergency dentist for treatment. While it may seem like you have it under control at home, there are benefits to seeing an emergency dentist right away. They include:

• Disallowing the progression and advancement of the problem – technically, the longer you go without treatment, the worse the problem is likely to get. Unfortunately, many patients experience dental emergencies after leaving typical oral problems untreated for a long time.
• Curb the spread of infection – other than the problem advancing to a more severe state, is an increased risk of increased infection. The bacteria can affect other healthy tissues in your mouth, increasing the scope of pain and swelling.
• To heighten the chances of saving natural teeth – the sooner you visit a dentist for emergency care, the higher the chance of saving your natural tooth. It spares you the need for expensive restorative treatments if you were to lose the tooth.
• For permanent treatments and solutions – instead of finding temporal remedies to manage your pain, swelling, and bleeding, rely on an emergency dentist to treat the root cause of the problem.