Dental Emergencies in Indiana

It’s never a good idea to put off getting a filling or fixing a minor chipped tooth for too long, but these kinds of problems can usually wait for a couple of days. A dental emergency is a completely different story. Many dental emergencies require immediate treatment to stop pain and prevent them from permanently damaging your smile. Our friendly team at Wadas Dental believes that being prepared for handling a dental emergency is the first step towards minimizing the damage, which is why we’ve prepared this guide that helps you understand what types of conditions require emergency treatment and when you might need to call 911 or your dentist.

What Are Common Dental Emergency Situations?

A dental emergency is essentially any oral health problem that requires immediate care. While some types of dental emergencies are pretty obvious to detect, others fall into a bit of a gray area. For instance, you’ll clearly need to seek emergency care for any trauma to your mouth that results in a knocked out tooth, since the clock will be ticking for being able to save your smile.

However, having a tooth chip right along the edge might not be a huge emergency if it doesn’t cause you pain. Large tooth fractures that reach to the inner pulp of your tooth can cause severe pain, which is when you’ll know to call our office for emergency treatment. Severe tooth pain along with dental abscesses, or gum boils, may also require prompt care to end a potentially spreading infection and restore your comfort.

Can Calling 911 Help With Dental Emergencies?

Your typical emergency responder can’t do much to help you with a lost filling, but they can help save your life if your dental injury causes severe bleeding or difficulty breathing. After a dental injury you’ll want to take note of your symptoms to identify potentially serious problems that are best addressed in an emergency room, such as head trauma. If someone else is injured, then you’ll want to call 911 and administer first aid if they suddenly stop breathing or experience severe swelling along their jaw or throat. Once your life is no longer in danger, then you can still call your dentist for prompt treatment of the remaining dental issues, such as a broken tooth.

First Aid Tips for a Dental Emergency in Indiana

Practicing first aid can help you to control your symptoms while you rush to the emergency dentist. Taking immediate action can also help you to save a knocked out tooth. If you lose a tooth, try to find it. Once you do, pick it up by the crown while being careful to avoid touching the delicate root. Then, rinse the tooth off with warm water and hold it in the socket. Doing this simple procedure could help keep the root in better condition for a successful re-insertion. If you can’t keep the tooth inside of the socket, then put it in a small container and soak it in saliva or milk to preserve it.

Dental injuries can also cause significant bleeding and swelling. After rinsing your mouth with warm water, you may be able to see where the blood is coming from. If you do, then you can use clean gauze, a paper towel, or cloth to apply pressure to the wound and slow down the bleeding. For swelling and pain, try putting a cold compress or ice pack on the outside of your cheek.

Request a Same-Day Appointment

Once you’ve got the worst of your symptoms under control, you’re ready to call our dentist at Wadas Dental in Indiana to schedule an urgent care appointment. Our dentist knows that serious dental problems can’t always wait for the next day, which is why we leave room in our schedule for helping people who need treatment immediately. Just make sure to tell us what happened along with your symptoms. While not every single tooth problem warrants emergency care, we do believe that serious injuries or pain deserve prompt care.

Experiencing a dental emergency in Indiana is a situation that tends to occur without warning. At Wadas Dental, our staff is always ready to handle both routine and emergency procedures, and we hope that knowing that we are here provides you with comfort during a distressing moment.

Contacting a family dentist in Indiana as soon as you know that you’re experiencing dental trauma gives our team a chance to spring into action. Whether you have a lost tooth or experience sudden excruciating pain, our dentist is ready to help treat the problem and restore your oral health and overall comfort. Don’t delay seeking care when we’re ready to help. Give our office a call today, so that we can begin creating an emergency treatment plan on the same day that your symptoms begin.