When you have cracked or chipped a tooth, or when a tooth develops cavities or a tooth is knocked out, then you have a dental emergency that needs treatment. With immediate attention, we can help protect and preserve your smile! In today’s blog, your Leawood, KS, dentist talks about our approach to emergency dentistry.
Common Examples of a Dental Emergency
What constitutes a dental emergency? This refers to any injury to your smile that is not life threatening but still requires immediate attention. For example, a chipped or cracked tooth, a tooth knocked loose or out completely, or sudden unexplained pain in your tooth. An object or piece of food caught between your teeth that floss cannot extract is an example, as is a loose or missing crown or filling. If a dental prosthetic or orthodontics appliances/braces are damaged, you should let us know as well.
How to Ease Your Initial Discomfort
You can contact our team right away, even outside of normal business hours, and we can arrange for a time to see you or your child for treatment. In the meantime, you can take actions to help ease pain until we can see you. Be sure you rinse with warm water, and use cloth or gauze to stem the bleeding. A cold compress or ice pack to the side of the face is also helpful to control swelling. If a tooth is damaged, see if you can recover any pieces or bring it with you. If a tooth is knocked out, pick it up by the crown, never touch the root, and place it in a glass of milk or salt water, and bring it with you. To ease discomfort, you can take an over-the-counter pain reliever.
We Can Repair Your Tooth
Our team can often treat minor damage, such as chips, in one visit with a dental bonding procedure, using the same composite resin as our tooth-colored fillings. For more substantial injuries, our team can create and place a custom dental crown. If a tooth is knocked out, we can restore it to its place in your bite. Our team can also replace any compromised or missing restorations too. To help prevent common dental emergencies, we suggest a custom mouthguard, which can limit the risk of sports-related injuries to the teeth.
If you have any questions about how to prevent or address a dental emergency, then contact our team today to learn more.
Do You Have Any Questions About Emergency Dental Care?
Don’t risk the onset of major complications due to damaged teeth, talk to our team right away. Call Dreem Dentistry in Leawood, KS by calling (913)681-5500 to learn more about the process of treating or preventing emergency dental care.
