What To Do In A Dental Emergency

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Dental emergencies are genuine emergencies that demand immediate care. The worst thing you can do is ignore damage to your teeth, loss of teeth, or severe dental pain. Just like a hospital emergency care is designed to alleviate suffering and preserve function, emergency dental care accomplishes the same goals, but with teeth and gums. In any dental emergency, count on Attleboro Family Dental Care in Attleboro, MA for prompt and effective treatment.

Types of Dental Emergencies

It’s helpful to break dental emergencies down by their symptoms, Typically, those fall under the categories of pain, damage, loss, and bleeding. Let’s look at each one in turn.

Pain

Nothing in your mouth should hurt. Pain in the mouth is always a sign that something is wrong. Sometimes, it’s as simple as having taken a sip of a beverage that’s too hot. That’s minor and should heal just fine on its own.

Pain in the teeth and jaw is another matter. That type of pain is generally much worse and isn’t due to anything you can immediately put your finger on. Teeth and jaws aren’t supposed to hurt, so if you have unexplained sudden and severe pain or a pain that rapidly becomes intense, you’re likely experiencing a dental infection.

Dental infections hardly ever clear up on their own, and ignoring them can cost you teeth and even endanger your health. That’s not an exaggeration;  a wide body of research has linked gum disease to a host of serious health conditions. The causes of gum disease are many, but once dental infection sets in, prompt treatment is required.

Pain in the mouth that was severe but suddenly stops is a sign that the nerve in the tooth is dead. That lack of pain doesn’t mean that the infection is gone; it just means that there’s no nerve to send pain signals. Left untreated, that infection can attack the ligament that helps stabilize the tooth and even erode the bone that supports the tooth.

If you’re experiencing any of the symptoms above, call Attleboro Family Dental Care at 508-222-2510 at once for an appointment.

Damage

Damage to your teeth or gums is usually due to failure of a dental restoration such as a filling or a crown, or it’s due to failure of the enamel. Enamel failure is often caused by biting into something too hard, but it can also be a sign of underlying decay.

Broken teeth provide an open route for disease-causing bacteria in the mouth to get access to the underlying tissues. The longer that route is open, the greater the chance of developing an infection. Call us at once at 508-222-2510 for a same-day appointment.

Missing Teeth

Outside the dental office, your permanent, adult teeth only leave their sockets for two reasons – dental infection or impact. That impact may be due to a fall, a blow to the jaw or mouth, or an accident. Regardless, time is teeth when one or more teeth have gone missing.

Call our office immediately at 508-222-2510. We can provide a same-day appointment as well as for instructions on how to care for your tooth or teeth until Dr. Hannawi can see you. Again, time is teeth – a tooth, which has come out of its socket can often be reimplanted, and Dr. Hannawi has an excellent track record of helping teeth re-root.

Bleeding Tissues

Bleeding in the mouth can be caused by any number of things, and generally isn’t cause for alarm. The exceptions to that rule are when there’s no obvious explanation for bleeding, and the bleeding is significant.

Try using pressure on the outside of the mouth to stop the bleeding. Cold compresses often help, too. If you’re unable to stop the bleeding in a reasonable amount of time, visit your hospital emergency room for help.

Don’t Take Chances With Your Teeth Or Your Health

Keeping your natural teeth is always your best option. There are several tooth replacement options that work well, but replacing missing teeth takes a fair amount of time and quite a bit of money.

Remember, time equals teeth in a dental emergency. For prompt emergency dental care, call Attleboro Family Dental Care in Attleboro, MA at once. We recommend that you call 508-222-2510 rather than using our online form in an emergency situation.

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