We understand that dental emergencies occur and when they do, you need to be seen quickly. Please phone us as soon as your emergency occurs so we can arrange an appointment for you as soon as possible.
Dental emergencies often occur unexpectedly or at inconvenient times causing significant disruption to daily life due to pain.
When you attend your emergency dental appointment we will focus on your specific problem. We will thoroughly examine the tooth, or teeth in question and run some tests: getting the results immediately. Your tooth / teeth will be fixed with either a definitive, or temporary solution to match your needs on the day. If necessary, further appointments will be arranged to help you improve the overall long-term health of the affected tooth / teeth.
We all know the adage 'accidents will happen' and unfortunately it applies to our teeth too. Participation sports, children’s games and plain bad luck can lead to teeth being injured. This can range from chipped teeth, to displaced teeth, to teeth being knocked out. Although common throughout life, most traumatic injuries to teeth happen in childhood 1.
Try to avoid childhood injuries by making your home as toddler friendly as possible if you have a child beginning to walk. At 9 to 12 months old children will use furniture to support themselves and injuries on the edges of coffee tables are common. Try not to let toddlers carry bottles, or cups in their mouths when walking and running. For older children, prominent front teeth, which stick out from under the top lip are prone to injury. Having braces applied at the right time to move these teeth can reduce the risk. For children and adults, a well fitting mouthguard should be worn if playing contact sports, or sports with fast moving hard objects. It is prudent to have a dental check up at the start of the sports season to check the fit of a sports mouthguard. This is especially important if a child is still growing teeth, or having teeth moved with a brace.
If a tooth does become injured in an accident it is important to stay calm and if applicable, calm the child down. Bleeding can be stopped by applying pressure with a clean cloth. Any tooth fragments, or the whole tooth, should be located if possible. A dentist should be phoned immediately.
Some dental injuries are best treated in the first hour: if you are one of our patients, we will accommodate this if necessary. For example, if a permanent (grown-up) tooth has been knocked out, this can be put back into its socket. In this situation, please do not scrub the tooth clean. Please put the tooth straight into the accident victims saliva, or ideally milk if you have it with you. Then come to see us, or your preferred dentist immediately. Putting a permanent tooth back into the mouth ideally needs to be done within the hour. If you are confident to do so, you can place the tooth back into its socket yourself at the scene of the accident. If there is visible dirt from the ground, lightly rinse the tooth with water, place it back into the socket and get to your dentist immediately. Baby teeth should not be put back into the mouth due to the danger of damaging growing permanent teeth.
Teeth injured in accidents will need to be followed up for life with regular dental check ups. Often maintenance will be needed to repairs that have been done. If the injury has been severe, root canal treatments or even replacement with an implant may become necessary over time.
1 - Glendor et al. Public health aspects of oral diseases and disorders: dental trauma. In: Pine C, Harris R, eds. Community Oral Health. London: Quintessence Publishing; 2007: 203-11.
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