Having a dental emergency is a very stressful and frustrating situation. Our teeth are a huge part of our lives, even if we don’t always realize it. They help us chew our food, play a huge role in pronunciation and speech, and influence social interactions. Thus, whenever there is a problem with them, all these spheres become compromised. Dental emergencies can be frightening to some people, and, in most cases, we are unsure how to respond. In these situations, what we do immediately after the event has a huge weight on what the outcome is going to be. It is important to be informed about how to act if we have one.
When should you seek help?
To some people, what qualifies as a dental emergency may need to be clarified. Some cases are quite obvious, such as having a knocked-out or chipped tooth, but in other cases, there can be some uncertainty regarding whether or not it is important to go to an emergency dentist in NW Calgary. Some symptoms alert us and are signs of an underlying problem. Such is the case of intense pain that isn’t reduced by medication, mouth, gums, jaw swelling, and bleeding. If you have any of these issues, visit a dental clinic near you so a dentist can examine your mouth and decide if you need treatment.
Your tooth is knocked out.
It is a fairly common dental emergency that mainly happens after trauma. If this happens to you, try to remain calm. Your main focus should be to keep the tooth alive. The most efficient way to achieve this is by grabbing the tooth by the crown (avoid touching the roots), rinsing it with warm water and reinserting it in the socket. If you can’t do it or find it too gruesome, rinse the tooth with warm water and store it in a container with milk. After doing this, go to an emergency dentist near you for the required treatment.
Your tooth is chipped.
Perhaps you were chewing on some really hard food or got hit in the mouth. No matter the reason, breaking a tooth is not the most pleasant thing. When this happens, you should rinse your water with warm water to remove all the pieces, and if there is bleeding, biting on a moist gauze can help control it. Depending on the case, a dentist in NW Calgary can offer different treatment options. If the damage is minimal, a filling may suffice. On the other hand, if the tooth is more compromised, you may need a dental crown. Either way, a dentist can solve the problem without much trouble.
You have a tooth abscess.
A tooth abscess is a collection of pus that forms in the root of your tooth. Some symptoms include severe, incapacitating pain that doesn’t improve with medication, fever, swelling of the gums and jaw, and perhaps the most characteristic ones, bad breath and foul taste. It happens because the abscess can drain pus into your mouth. An abscess is a bacterial infection requiring antibiotics to improve. Thus, ignoring and neglecting this condition is not a good idea. If you have these symptoms, you should go to a dental clinic near you, where a dentist can examine and treat you accordingly. Please do so to prevent the infection from spreading further.
