5 Common Dental Emergencies and How to Handle Them

Dental emergencies can be nerve-wracking, and you cannot wait to get to our dentist in Smithfield, UT, to get urgent dental care near you. It is understandable to act promptly since dental emergencies, like other medical emergencies, tend to escalate in a few moments, leading to further complications that could be challenging to treat.

Nevertheless, there’s another challenge. How do you know if you are facing a dental emergency requiring the services of our emergency dentist near you? Or is it something that can subside with home remedies if you tarry just a bit? In either scenario, you will need the proper information to help you know when to seek emergency dental in Utah.

The best strategy to reduce stress in a dental emergency is to know what to do.

What’s A Dental Emergency?

Most dental issues in the heat of the moment always seem like getting urgent dental care is the best solution. But not all situations warrant immediate care, irrespective of how you are feeling at the moment.

So, to help you decipher whether you need to contact our emergency dentist near you or use home remedies, ask yourself the following questions:

• Are you bleeding incessantly in your mouth?
• Do you have a toothache that will not subside even after using painkillers?
• Has your tooth come out, or is it partially out?
• Are you showing signs of an infection such as fever, bad breath, and a pus-filled pocket on the gums?
• Are your permanent teeth loose?

The above questions are a guideline that will help you know if you are in an emergency or not. If the issue has to be resolved within the same day, not the following day, or even two days later, it is a dental emergency.

Common Dental Emergencies

The most common dental emergencies are:

Knocked-Out Tooth

Your teeth can get knocked out when there is a direct blow to your face or mouth. When this happens, and your tooth gets knocked out, you are on a clock if you wish to save your tooth. So, you will need to pick the tooth using the crown and not the root so that you don’t disturb any tissue.

Gently rinse it and try reinserting your tooth into the socket. If this is difficult, place it between the cheeks or in milk to keep it moist. Use gauze to control bleeding.

Contact our office so our dentist and our team can be ready, then dash to our office. Try as much as possible to get to our office in thirty minutes or less since the chances of reinserting the tooth dwindle by the minute.

Abscessed Tooth

When you have a cavity (hole), bacteria and food can find their way into your inner tooth. If you don’t seek treatment, getting an infection will be inevitable. You will notice a small bump on your gums with pus, referred to as an abscess.

So, before leaving the house, take some warm salty water, gargle it and then spit it out. Gargling warm salt water helps draw the pus to the surface, making it easier for our emergency dentist near you to drain it.

Loose Permanent Teeth

Adult teeth should be firm and not loose. If you notice that your teeth are loose, don’t shake them any further because you will be making the situation much worse. So you will need to contact our dentist and ensure that you get the tooth checked.

Broken, Fractured, or Cracked Tooth

Teeth crack, break, or fracture because of trauma. When this happens, you might feel a lot of pain because the nerves could be exposed. So, if it is a crack and you are in pain, gargle some warm salty water and take pain medication while you come to our office.

If a part of the tooth breaks off, pick it up and bring it with you since our dentist can repair the broken part.

Tissue Injuries, Tears, and Lacerations

Blows to the mouth or sharp objects can cause soft tissue injuries that might lead to excessive bleeding. So, if you can get warm salty water and gargle, it will help reduce the bleeding. Also, you can place gauze at the injury site. You should then contact us while making your way to our office.

Dental emergencies can lead to other complications in a heartbeat. So, at Webber Comprehensive Dentistry, we are ready to help you when you are in one.