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emergency dental care

August 24, 2015

What Is Considered a Real Dental Emergency?

Five types of tooth problems are serious causes for an emergency visit to your Little Rock dentist.

Issues that involve the teeth and surrounding tissues can have potentially serious repercussions that commonly considered good reasons for seeking emergency dental care in Little Rock. Dental emergencies can range from a lost tooth caused by a sports injury to sudden pain from a fully-fledged oral infection. Ignoring painful or troublesome dental problems may result in long-term damage that will eventually call for extensive and costly treatments. The following are five conditions that warrant an emergency trip to your dentist’s office:

1. Abscessed Teeth

Common symptoms of abscessed teeth—a type of bacterial infection—include swelling, fever, and pain. This infection is usually caused by an untreated cavity or injury. Because the infection can cause serious damage to your teeth and surrounding tissues, and even spread to other parts of your body, it is important to seek emergency dental care if a tooth becomes abscessed.

2. Tissue Injuries

Soft tissue injuries on the lips, gums, cheeks, and tongue also require immediate attention from your dentist. A variety of injuries and accidents can cause puncture wounds and painful symptoms like bleeding, blisters, tears, swelling, and soreness. Rinse your mouth with warm water following an injury, placing gauze on the wound to stop the bleeding, and then contact your dentist for emergency care.

3. Chipped Teeth

Chipped, cracked, or fractured teeth can be quite painful if you wait too long to address them with your dentist. Minor chips are not considered a dental emergency, as they can usually be addressed through tooth resurfacing or a light composite filling. But if the crack or fracture is severe enough, your tooth may not be salvageable. In these cases, aside from addressing the oral trauma from the broken tooth, your dentist will also need to perform some kind of dental restoration such as a crown or dental implant.

4. Dislodged Teeth

If a permanent tooth becomes dislodged, try to locate the tooth and bring it with you to your Little Rock dentist. Do not to touch the tooth’s roots, or you could cause further damage. A qualified dentist can sometimes replace teeth that have been completely knocked out if you take action as soon as possible. Getting to your dentist within one hour of an accident greatly increases your chances that the tooth can be re-implanted successfully.

5. Foreign Objects

If a substantial foreign object—such as a popcorn husk or toothpick splinter—somehow becomes stuck between your teeth, this cause significant pain in your teeth and gums. Foreign objects that lodge themselves between teeth may also cause your teeth to loosen and create opportunities for infections to develop. If floss does not remove the object, seek emergency dental care to ensure that the object is removed safely.

If your mouth is bleeding, swelling, painful, or if you have experienced any kind of sudden tooth injury, these all qualify as good reasons to visit your dentist ASAP. Many people wait until the pain becomes unbearable to seek emergency dental care, and they often wind up going to a local emergency room rather than visiting a dentist. In some cases, emergency room personnel are unequipped to adequately deal with dental emergencies and only offer temporary pain relief without fixing the actual problem.

When you have a dangerous tooth problem, contact Arkansas Family Dental for emergency dental care at 501.683.8886.
 
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Filed Under: Dental Emergency Services, Emergency Services

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