Dental Emergencies – A Short Guideline

Ever wonder what do you do if your tooth or your child’s tooth is loose or out of its socket due to an accident or if you bit on a piece of something really hard and now you have a cracked tooth or filling?  Here is a short guideline you can follow if a dental emergency occurs.
Broken tooth- Rinse your mouth with warm salt water to clean the area. Use a cold compress in the area to keep swelling down.  If you see bleeding or a “pink/red” coming from the tooth itself, the nerve portion of the tooth is exposed and immediate dental treatment is needed.  Call your dentist immediately.  Dislocated Jaw or Possibly broken jaw – If you have an accident or trauma to your jaw and realize that your “normal” bite is not even, crooked, or you cannot put your teeth together, then you may have a dislocated or broken jaw.  Apply cold compress to affected area controlling swelling and go to your dentist or a hospital emergency department immediately.  Knocked out tooth- Immediately: find the tooth.  Hold the tooth only at the crown surface.  Rinse the root(s) of the tooth in water, carefully not to scrub or remove any attached tissue fragments.  If possible, gently insert the tooth back into the socket.  If that is not possible, put the tooth in a cup of milk or under your tongue and get to your dentist as quickly as possible.  Knocked loose tooth- Apply cold compress to affected area to reduce swelling.  Do not try to push or pull the tooth from its socket.  Call your dentist immediately.  The tooth needs to be assessed as soon as possible so treatment can be done.  The earlier the appropriate treatment is done the better the tooth can heal without damage.  Toothache- Rinse your mouth with warm water.  Gently use dental floss to make sure there is no food or other debris trapped between your teeth.  Do not use aspirin or any other pain meds directly on the tooth.  If pain persists, contact your dentist.  Dental filling or temporary falls out- if it’s a temporary crown, clean it out, use denture adhesive, place into crown and put it back over your tooth.  If it’s a missing filling, you can purchase a “temporary filling” material from your local drug store and place the white putty into the missing filling area so that it covers the “hole”.  Contact your dentist.
Most importantly with any dental emergency stay calm, contact your dentist and/or go to the emergency room as soon as possible.
The office is located at 27420 Tourney Road, Ste 280 in Valencia.  For more information, please call 661-253-0588 and visit www.drfangdds.com.