How To Handle Dental Emergencies? Any dental emergency like an injury to the teeth or gums can be potentially severe and should never be ignored. Overlooking a dental issue can raise the risk of permanent damage & the need for more comprehensive and costly treatment in the future.
Toothaches First, entirely rinse your mouth with warm water. Use dental floss to remove any stuck food between your teeth. If your mouth is swollen, use a cold compress on the cheek. Never put aspirin or any other painkiller against the gums near the sore tooth as it can burn the gum tissue.
Chipped or Broken Teeth Save any pieces. Rinse the mouth using warm water; rinse any tooth broken pieces. If there’s bleeding, apply a piece of gauze to that spot for 10 minutes or until the bleeding stops. Apply a cold compress to the cheek or lip near the broken or chipped tooth to control the swelling and facilitate pain. Visit your dentist as soon as you can.
Knocked-Out Tooth To retrieve the tooth, hold it by the crown. Do not wash it or release any connected tissue components. If possible, try to place the tooth back in position. Make sure it’s facing the correct way. Never push it into the socket. If it’s not likely to reinsert the tooth in the socket, put the tooth in a small container of milk. In all cases, visit your dentist as fast as possible. Knocked-out teeth with the highest chances of being saved are those seen by a dental professional and returned to their socket within 1 hour after getting knocked out.
Dislodged Tooth Until you reach a dental office, to ease pain, apply a cold compress to the cheek over the affected area. Take an over-the-counter pain reliever, if needed.
Food Caught Between Teeth First, try utilizing dental floss gently and carefully to remove the object. If you can’t get the trapped thing out, visit your dentist. Never use a pin or other sharp object to drive out the stuck object. These tools can cut your gums or scrape your tooth surface.
Lost Filling As a temporary measure, use an over-the-counter dental cement. See your dentist as soon as possible.
Lost Crown If the crown falls, visit your dentist and bring the crown with you. If you can’t go to the dentist in time and the tooth is driving immense pain, apply clove oil on a cotton swab & put it to the exposed area. If possible, coat the inner surface with an over-the-counter dental cement or denture adhesive to drop the crown back over the tooth in place.
Broken Braces & Wires If a wire breaks or is poking your cheek, try moving the wire with an eraser end of a pencil to force the wire to move into a more relaxed place. If you can’t move the wire, wrap the poking end with orthodontic wax. Never try to cut the wire, as you may end up swallowing it.
Loose Brackets & Bands Temporarily reattach loose braces with orthodontic wax. Alternatively, place the wax over the braces to give a buffer. See your orthodontist as soon as possible.
Abscess Abscesses are infections that occur near the root of a tooth or in the space between the teeth and gums. Abscesses are a severe disease that harms the tissue and teeth. If it is left untreated the infection may spread to other organs which can adversely harm you even more, so visit your dentist as soon as possible.
Soft-Tissue Injuries Injuries to the tissues of the tongue, cheeks, gums, and lips, can result in severe bleeding. To stop the bleeding, rinse your mouth with saltwater. Use a dampened piece of gauze to apply pressure to the bleeding area. Hold in place for 10 to 20 minutes. To relieve pain, put a cold compress to the outside of the mouth over the affected area for 5 to 10 minutes. Then see your dentist right away.
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