Is It a Dental Emergency? Here’s How to Know.

Perhaps you are out eating dinner with dear friends, and you bite into something, hear a crunch, and feel a sharp fracture on your tooth with your tongue. You and your friends have planned this dinner for a long time, but now you have a dental emergency. Or do you?

Sometimes it is hard to know if you are actually experiencing a dental emergency that requires immediate treatment. If you are having a dental emergency, we welcome you to contact our dental office to discuss the problem and plan the next steps to restore your oral health.

HERE ARE SOME GUIDELINES ABOUT DENTAL EMERGENCIES:

• Pain – There is no good reason to tolerate dental pain. Any type of tooth pain is your body’s cry for professional help. Often, tooth pain worsens when ignored and can actually progress until it becomes unbearable. Contact us at the first sign of pain. We will guide you through the dental emergency process and treat you as quickly as possible.
• A broken tooth – A broken tooth should be treated quickly because it sustains additional damage once the structure of your tooth is compromised. Now, that doesn’t mean you have to jump up from dinner, skipping the dessert course and abandoning your friends, but it is important that you chew on the opposite side of the damage and contact us at your earliest convenience, so we can restore and protect your tooth.
• A knocked-out tooth – Anytime your tooth gets knocked out from sports or an accident, acting fast is essential. Place your tooth back in the socket and hold it in place, if possible. If you cannot, place it in a little milk or saliva to keep it from drying out. We can often save a knocked-out tooth when we treat it quickly enough.
• A broken or lost filling or crown – A broken filling or crown opens your tooth to decay and infection. If it is not painful, it may be able to wait until the next day rather than needing an after hours appointment. Call us just to be sure and we will make sure you get taken care of.

DENTAL EMERGENCIES IN NEDERLAND, TX

We handle dental emergencies here at Nederland Family Dental and are here to help! If you have a dental emergency, call our office and we will help you get an appointment as early as possible.