What Counts As A Dental Emergency? 3 Clear Signs You Have One
How do you tell the difference between a dental issue that can wait until your next regularly scheduled visit with the dentist (or, at least, a regular office call) and when you have an honest-to-goodness dental emergency?
Here are three big signals that your dental health has taken a turn for the worse and you need immediate treatment:
1. You just broke a tooth.
A broken tooth can be a distressing emotional experience to be sure. It can also put your health in danger. Bacteria can get into the broken tooth very easily and create an infection. Even if you aren't in pain now, the odds are high that the tooth will abscess eventually — and you want to avoid that as much as possible. If you're already in pain, naturally, you can't expect it to get anything but worse.
It's time to use a warm saltwater rinse to help kill infection and relieve your pain a little. Then, head for the emergency dentist right away.
2. You have a missing crown or filling.
Believe it or not, this isn't just an annoyance, it's a real dental emergency. Depending on what that crown or filling was covering, you may now have an exposed nerve in your tooth. It's likely that the ache in your mouth will start quickly and rage every time you even try to eat or drink anything.
If you aren't experiencing pain at the moment, count yourself lucky and consider covering the exposed tooth with a temporary paste to keep pain from starting. Kits designed to safely cover a missing filling or crown are sold in most drug stores — but don't try to get away with using the temporary paste for long. You need a real dentist's attention.
3. Your gums are mysteriously bleeding.
Bleeding gums are not normal. If you see just a little blood after brushing or flossing, you may have simply gone at your daily dental routine with a bit too much enthusiasm. If the blood keeps showing after you ease up on your routine or there's a lot of blood right away, see an emergency dentist quickly.
A best-case scenario is that you have gingivitis, which is a painless inflammation that can — in the long run — seriously damage your teeth. There are treatments available that can help reverse the course of the inflammation. However, you could also be suffering from something serious, like diabetes, a severed Vitamin K or Vitamin C deficiency, leukemia, or a small host of other problems.
Emergency dental care services exist for a reason — so don't feel shy about using them. If you have dental pain, something's broken or missing in your mouth, or there's bleeding from your gums, it's time to make that phone call to an emergency dental care center.
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