A dental emergency is any dental issue that needs to be resolved immediately to save a tooth, stop continuous tissue bleeding, or relieve severe pain.
In some cases, sudden pain or tenderness is not an emergency but needs to be examined. In these situations, a professional should assess the condition as soon as possible, before the situation worsens and further threatens oral health. It is up to the emergency dental service to welcome, diagnose and treat these complications.
What are the main dental emergencies?
Several things lead someone to seek urgent dental care. These are as follows;
Fractures
The teeth are healthy, but even so, they are prone to fractures and cracks. Sometimes it does not create pain. When they extend to the root, however, the pain is likely to be extreme.
These cases can take many forms but are usually caused by trauma, crushing, and biting or after a dental procedure – like a canal.
Also, anyone who practices contact sports – for example, basketball or football – should be more careful with their teeth. The best way to avoid traumatic injuries is to use a custom mouthguard. Thus, it is possible to significantly reduce the risk of damaging your teeth due to bumps or falls.
Infections
Another dental emergency may occur due to some oral infection. Cold sores or gingivitis, for example, require medical care, but not urgent care.
When there is swelling around the jawline or under the tongue and difficulty breathing or swallowing, attention is needed. After all, this can be a sign of an infection on the floor of the mouth, under the tongue. This situation requires urgent care since the bacteria can travel from the oral cavity to the pericardial tissue around the heart.
Other infections can cause terrible pain, to the point of interfering with the patient’s sleep and routine even when they are treated with over-the-counter pain relievers. This would also qualify as a reason to see your dentist right away.
It is essential to note that these infections are typically advanced conditions that could have been treated more easily before they reached the point where an emergency visit is needed. Therefore, it is best to schedule a dental visit when the pain starts or – even more importantly – make regular visits to the dentist.
Restorations
Dental restorations are the various ways in which the dentist can replace missing teeth or repair parts of the structure. These changes usually happen due to dental caries, deterioration of a previously placed restoration, trauma, or fractures.
Restorations can be made of different materials; among them, resin, glass ionomer, porcelain, amalgam – an alloy of silver, mercury, copper, tin, and, sometimes, zinc – or gold.
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