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When dental pain and discomfort appear, it’s time to call a dentist. What many people find hard to decide is whether to call their dentist immediately, or wait for the pain to go away. In some cases, things are pretty simple – if you’re feeling excruciating pain, it’s likely that the dentist’s office will be your first call. In other cases, it’s hard to know the difference between a problem that can wait until Monday morning and an urgent dental case that can harm your health.
The urgent dental case is an umbrella term for describing dental issues that need to be treated ASAP – even if you're on holiday, away for the weekend, etc. Luckily, there are emergency dentists who can help you in trouble, thanks to their flexible office hours.
Here is the list of the most common urgent dental case. If you experience any of these, seek help as soon as possible and follow our tips on what to do before you reach the dentist’s office.
A toothache is a symptom that can be caused by many different problems. The most frequent problem is the neglected tooth cavity that suddenly got worse, and it's causing you pain. What you can do to help yourself immediately is rinse your mouth with lukewarm water. Another thing to do is to floss around the painful area gently, to make sure that the food hasn’t stuck up somewhere. If none of this helps, book an appointment as soon as possible.
There are emergency dentists who work nights and weekends, so finding one shouldn’t be that hard. Even if the pain goes away by itself, do not skip the dental checkup - just because the pain suddenly ceased, it doesn’t mean that it won’t come back. Also, tooth infections can progress to abscesses and cause numbness, so the pain is not there to warn you.
The swollen jaw doesn’t tell us much, so it’s better to see the expert as soon as possible. The cause of your swelling can be anything - from a big zit/boil to an enlarged lymph node caused by a gum or tooth infection. The three serious causes of jaw swelling are jaw cyst, tooth abscess, and pericoronitis (gum infection). In rare cases, it‘s a symptom of cancer.
If you see a large swelling and you’re feeling pain accompanied by fever, seek help immediately. An abscessed tooth could cause an enlargement of lymph nodes, just as well as any other infection. Since abscesses are no joke, this symptom is considered urgent dental care. If it’s a small lump, and you’re not feeling any pain, don’t panic and keep track of its progress. If the pain occurs, and if the lump doesn’t go away in a couple of days, it’s time to see a dental emergency expert.
A knocked-out tooth might not be as serious as a tooth abscess, but we dentists consider it as an emergency. When your tooth gets knocked out, the only thing that can help you save it is quick action. Depending on the case, if you react quickly, it’s possible that your dentist will be able to reinsert it. To increase the chance of your tooth being preserved, pick up the tooth by its crown and after you carefully rinse it with water, put it back to the socket.
If this is not possible, pour some milk into the clean glass container and place the tooth in it. Bring the container to your emergency dentist and they will try to reinsert the tooth back into the socket. Ideally, you would see the dentist within one hour from the moment of injury.
If you live in the Gold Coast & Brisbane, call us at MGA Dental. We deal with dental emergencies all the time, and we're available 7 days a week and on public holidays.
It’s not difficult to get a soft-tissue injury as our gums, lips, and tongue are extremely sensitive and swarming with blood vessels that can be cut, bruised, punctured, and lacerated. Tissue in your mouth is prone to bleeding and injuries commonly occur during falls, accidental bites, traffic accidents, and sports activities. These injuries can include burns you get from eating and drinking hot foods and beverages. The injuries usually look much worse than they are, due to heavy bleeding, but in some cases, urgent dentist’s help is required.
One of the things you can do before seeing the dentist is rinses the mouth with a mild saltwater solution. It’s also advised to press the injured area with gauze to stop the bleeding and treat it with ice. If bleeding doesn’t stop, call the dentist as most of us are trained to treat soft-tissue injuries. In some cases, dentists will diagnose the injury as serious, and they might refer you to an oral and maxillofacial surgeon.
The conditions described above are some of the oral issues that need to be dealt with right away. Whenever you feel pain and discomfort, don’t hesitate and book a dental checkup as soon as possible.
