Dental Emergencies: Here’s how you can Deal with Some of Them

The most painful and frightening thing are dental emergencies. It always occurs at odd hours causing tremendous suffering and pain. In fact, patient experiencing any dental emergency deems for immediate medical attention not only to cope up from pain but also to ensure possible survival chance.

Many times teeth get fractured by biting on the hard items, grinding and trauma. In many cases, crowns, fillings, cases along numerous other restorative appliances can fall out or damage easily. To deal with excruciating pain, schedule a dentist appointment on an earliest note. Otherwise, pain associated to dental emergencies become worse with time and dental problem will continue to jeopardise the overall physical health too.

Some common dental emergencies with typical tips to handle them:

Knocked out tooth (Avulsed tooth)

If there is any knocked out tooth, dental visit becomes substantial as early as you can. The damage in the blood vessels, nerves and tissues results in exiting of tooth from the mouth. To make a survival, make sure that the tooth is replaced into the pocket in an hour. This will promote the growth of tissue surrounding and supporting the tooth again.

Some steps you must take at that point are given in the following:

1. Contact your dentist
2. Hold on the tooth with its crown to rinse in warm water. Never touch its root
3. If you can put it back in the socket, if can’t then tuck it against the cheek pouch
4. Otherwise, store the tooth in a glass of milk or water or use saliva to prevent it from drying up. Don’t allow the teeth to dry up
5. Visit a nearby dental clinic immediately

Repositioning of the tooth in the desired socket will be tried out by the dentist. Most of the time, tooth gets reattached but if there is damage in intricate mechanism then root canal treatment must be needed for restoration of the tooth.

Lost crown or filling

After getting filling or crown, it becomes loose over the course of time due to eating! Once, its fall off the delicate tooth becomes highly sensitive to the changes of pressure and temperature. As the underneath tooth starts decaying it would result in the changes in shape of the teeth. Soon, you will find that crown doesn’t fit your teeth anymore.

When the crown falls off your mouth; try to get a dentist appointment on an urgent basis. Store the crown in safe and cool place as reinsertion is possible only by dental professionals. If you don’t address the issue on a prior note your teeth can experience further damage.

If a dentist is not readily available in your locality, these are what you can do:

1. Clove oil application for the alleviation of pain
2. Clean your crown before affixing it on the teeth using dental cement. You can get it from any local pharmacy
3. In case you can’t find the crown anymore smear the tooth top using dental cement for minimising the discomfort
4. Never use glue of any kind just for affixing the crown

Then dentist will examine if the crown still fits on the teeth! If it is, then reattachment will be done otherwise if decay gets noticed it should be addressed before providing the new crown.

Broken or cracked teeth

Although strong yet teeth are susceptible to breaks, cracks and fractures. Mostly fracture seems to be painless but if crack reaches to the root pain will be intolerable. Different forms are there for breaks, cracks and fractures but mainly they are caused due to biting, grinding and dental trauma. Whenever a tooth gets cracked or fractured, nothing to do except visiting a dentist on a quick note.

If a small portion of the teeth gets broken off, some steps you can take at home are mentioned below:

1. Call out the dentist
2. Both mouth and tooth fragment should be rinsed well using lukewarm water
3. Gauze should be applied to the site if profuse bleeding is there
4. Minimise the pain and swelling by placing a damped and cold dishtowel on your cheek
5. Affected site should be covered with OTC dental cement in case dentist availability is scarce.
6. Take any effective topic pain killer

Treatment will be provided by the dentist assessing the limit and nature of fracture, crack or break. If it already reached to root then root canal therapy will be suggested. For complete broken off, the fragment part will be affixed providing temporary solution unless the most suitable permanent solution is determined.

Loose or dislodged teeth

If a tooth gets loosened or dislodged from the socket due to decay or trauma, you can save the teeth. If it is still attached to nerves and blood vessels luckily you might not need root canal solution to treat the issue. However, you must call your nearest emergency dentist in London immediately for an appointment.

Till then, take over-the-counter pain reliever and apply cold compress. On visiting the dentist, the teeth will be repositioned by adding splints for optimal stabilisation. If the process fails root canal solution might be needed to fix the issue.

For further concerns, you are highly advised to get in touch with your emergency dentist.