Most Common Dental Emergencies and Their Prevention

When trying to identify the most familiar dental emergencies, tooth decay, gum disease, and chipped teeth top the list. However, excellent dental hygiene and preventive care are optimal to preserve your oral health by understanding what actions you must take when struck by a dental emergency or how to deal with them to help prevent unnecessary pain and long-term damage from the dental crisis.

If you think prevention is better than a cure trying to prevent such situations must remain on top of your mind. Unfortunately, dental emergencies can strike without warning making it essential for you to seek treatment for the condition as soon as possible from a dentist near me providing emergency services on demand.

This article looks at some of the most common dental situations requiring prompt attention from dentists besides providing you information on how to prevent long-term damage and restore your oral health by responding immediately and using first aid until you reach the dentist’s office.

Most Common Dental Emergencies

• Toothache: Pain in any part of your body can result from impacts on your body when moving around or socializing. However, if you develop a toothache, tooth decay is the primary cause. You can manage some toothaches without treatment from the dentist using over-the-counter pain relievers. Unfortunately, if swelling, fever, and other problems accompany the toothache, you can try applying a cool compress to the exterior of your cheeks and call a dental clinic nearby for emergency attention. After receiving treatment from the clinic, the dentist stresses the importance of maintaining excellent oral hygiene to prevent tooth decay, cavities, and other severe dental issues.
• Chipped or Broken Teeth: Please do not assume biting down on complex foods only satisfies your tastebuds. You might also experience a chipped or broken tooth ruining your perfect smile while causing pain. In such cases, rinse your mouth with warm water and place a piece of gauze if your tooth is bleeding. A cold compress applied on the cheeks near the affected tooth also helps alleviate the swelling. When you visit the emergency dental clinic for relief from the chipped or broken tooth, the dentist, after repairing the tooth, will suggest you remain conscious when biting hard and crunchy foods or getting involved in contact sporting activity by using preventive measures to safeguard your dental health and smile.
• Knocked out tooth: a knocked out tooth requires prompt attention from a dental facility offering treatment beyond office hours if you wish to preserve your natural tooth. However, you must pick up the tooth and rinse it without scrubbing the roots and ensure you maintain it in moist condition until you get to the emergency dentist in Courtice & Oshawa, ON, within 30 minutes of the accident for a realistic chance to splint the tooth to the adjacent teeth and allow the roots to reattach. However, if you intend to prevent accidents or injuries that might result in a knocked-out tooth getting customized mouthguards for yourself is an excellent preventive measure.
• Dental Abscess: Mouth infections near the roots of your tooth indicate a dental abscess and expose you to a life-threatening situation. When left untreated, the infection spreads to the neighbouring teeth, your jawbone, and even your body, making you vulnerable to different medical conditions. Dental abscesses result from deep decay in your tooth from improper dental hygiene or injuries you neglected earlier, causing your teeth to chip or crack. If you notice tiny pimples near the roots of your tooth, contact the emergency dental professional nearest to you to receive treatment before the issue worsens. Before heading to the dentist’s practice, use mild water to rinse your mouth and place ice over the swollen area for temporary relief. Visiting the dentist might get you a recommendation to undergo an emergency root canal or have the tooth extracted to safeguard your overall health.

Preventing Dental Emergencies Not Challenging

To prevent most dental emergencies and not every dental situation, you must adopt preventive measures and follow them diligently to safeguard against unexpected dental problems. For example, if involved in a sporting activity where impacts on your mouth can damage your teeth, dentists can customize a mouthguard for you as a preventive measure. Unfortunately, dentists can go this far and no farther because caring for your teeth is your responsibility.

Watching the foods you have and paying attention to hard foods like tough meats with bones and candy proves beneficial because the foods can damage your teeth to expose you to a dental situation that might need emergency treatment.

Your teeth are designed for biting foods and chewing them, not for purposes like biting your fingernails, opening bottles, or chewing on pen tops, because these habits can also result in chips and cracks in your teeth. Let us provide you with a better option to keep your hands busy by chewing sugarless gum and preventing damage to your teeth that need treatments from dental professionals offering emergency treatment.

Getting into a situation that might require treatment from dentists at odd hours of the day or night is not challenging because Brightway Dental offers emergency services to most patients receiving them by working from 9 AM to 8 PM on all days except for Sundays. However, the dental practice suggests using preventive measures to safeguard your teeth but visit them for a routine exam whenever you experience any dental situation.