A dental emergency usually involves swelling and discomfort other than unbearable pain although pain does not always accompany these conditions. It is important to have a clear understanding between an emergency dental condition and a non emergency one. This clarity in understanding helps you take the right decision at the right time to bear limited suffering.
Dental emergency conditions do not only involve pain and discomfort but may also mark a negative impact in your overall oral as well as physical health if the right care and treatment are not provided on time.
When is it necessary taking emergency care of a dental condition?
As per the statistics endorsed by the British Dental Association or BDA a significant number of adult Britons experience pain in the mouth at some of time or the other every year. This pain is usually the first indicator to something wrong developing in the mouth. It is important for every patient to know when a pain requires immediate care and treatment and when it does not. Certain pains can wait until you get the next appointment with your dentist whereas some pains require immediate intervention of a qualified dentist. When you have some idea about how pain is to be handled it actually protects you a lot from any long term oral health issue as well as its consequential effect on your physical health and wellbeing.
The point that we have been trying to emphasise above is simple – every problem related to your teeth and the gums does not require immediate intervention and treatment of a dentist. If you follow these tips below it will be possible for you to correctly determine when you should seek emergency dental treatment for a problem and when you should wait till the next appointment slot available with your dentist.
- Quantifying pain – if the pain is severe and is accompanied with additional symptoms like bleeding, swelling, inflammation and discolouration of a portion of the mouth if not the entire mouth then that could be a serious issue.
- Did a tooth or two got knocked out of the socket? – If a tooth or teeth get knocked out of the socket it is utmost important to rush to a dentist immediately without any kind of delay. Modern dentistry has evolved significant to retain and restore completely knocked out tooth or teeth provide the right treatment starts within an hour at the most from the time of the trauma.
- If a tooth or teeth get loosened in their position in the jaw – no adult tooth should come loose and if it does then that is serious issue and must be handled on emergency basis. Loosened tooth or teeth may not be painful at all and yet that must be treated as a dental emergency. If you ever experience this unfortunate condition, just rush to a dentist immediately.
- Is there any sign and symptom of infection present? – any infection in the oral cavity can spread fast and become disproportionately serious almost in no time. So you should not take any kind of dental infection lightly although it may initially appear to be very simple and benign. Book an appointment with your dentist immediately as get the issue diagnosed.
In addition to the conditions mentioned above bleeding from the mouth and particularly bleeding gums is always a major cause of concern explains a busy emergency dentist in London.
Few common cases of dental emergencies that occur frequently
Abrupt pain in the tooth without any logic, reasoning or explanation
When you experience pain in the tooth all on a sudden then it indicates that something is wrong with that particular tooth or the surrounding gums. It is not a good idea to ignore this kind of suddenly erupted symptoms and you should see a dentist immediately. Meanwhile you can try out the following to get temporary relief –
- Take pain medicines that are available over the counter like ibuprofen, acetaminophen, paracetamol and others as per the dosage printed on the label
- Rinse the mouth several times a day with lukewarm saltwater
- Apply a cold compress on the affected site from outside
Bleeding and/or swelling of the gums
When you take up flossing for the first time there could be little bleeding which is quite natural. But if your gums are bleeding without any apparent cause then that should not be taken casually. This kind of symptoms requires immediate visit to a dentist to diagnose the cause of the problem. The problem must be taken more seriously if it is accompanied with pain and any kind of swelling in the mouth.
Swelling in the mouth or the jaw without any apparent cause
This symptom may show up because of varieties of reasons – like setting in of an infection, some problem with the lymph nodes to name a few. Most importantly this symptom requires immediate visit to an emergency dental service nearby.
Exposed nerves
When the nerves become exposed the condition can be unbearably painful and if you delay going to a dentist the condition only gets progressively worse with time. A proper check up by a dentist ensures here is no further damage of the nerves. The right treatment on time clears away the infection and also helps avoiding complexities in these cases, explains an emergency dentist with reasonable cost based in London. Thus there is no need for extensive treatments further.
Dental abscess
A dental abscess is a case of dental emergency and must be met with prompt care and treatment. If it is left ignored and untreated the infection spreads progressively very fast affecting a much larger area almost in no time. In severe cases it may even result in death of patients. Typical symptoms of this dental condition include the following –
- Pain – and in moist of the times the pain is severe and unbearable
- Mild fever
- Swelling in the face
- Even the lymph nodes turn tender while suffering from a dental abscess point out dentists working at the renowned Thousand Smiles dental clinic in London
- There could also be a bump somewhere on the gum near to the affected tooth which looks like a pimple
Falling out of a filling
An emergency dentist who quotes reasonable prices for treatments falling out of a filling as such is not a dental emergency although it leaves the tooth easily vulnerable to breakage or cracking and this is why cases like this require emergency care and treatment at any cost.
