Dental emergencies are very common and range from toothaches and broken teeth to broken jaws. Here are some helpful information to prevent and help treat emergencies when they do happen. Avoiding dental emergencies:
- Schedule regular dental checkups to make sure all teeth are sound.
- Always make sure you are healthy before trips out of town to prevent emergency surprises.
- Sports are a common cause of tooth trauma. Wear a mouth guard when you play any contact sport.
- Never use your teeth as tools! Cutting tape, opening bags of chips, or removing clothing tags needs to be done with scissors or your teeth will be damaged. Avoid ice, hard candy, corn nuts, and popcorn kernels as they all can fracture teeth.
If an Emergency occurs:
- Call the office as soon as you can for an appointment. (919) 828-1001 24 hours x 7 days a week
- Even though you may not feel pain, a tooth that has lost a filling or broken can be badly damaged.
Quickly addressing the situation can help in avoiding extensive work like crowns, root canals, and extractions.
- If you have deep cuts on your lip,face,mouth from trauma you may want to seek urgent care first.
- If a tooth has been knocked out place it in milk and call for an immediate appointment.
- To manage a toothache—make sure the area is clean by swishing with warm salt water and flossing to dislodge food particles.
- Avoid chewing on that side of the mouth and stick to soft foods only.
- Call as soon as possible for an appointment.
If you lose a filling and are out of town and can not get to a dentist you can try a drug store temporary filling material to prevent food from irritating the spot. Follow directions carefully and call for an appointment as soon as you are able to come in.