Dental emergencies are not an uncommon phenomenon. In fact, your oral cavity is one of the most severely affected parts in case you meet an accident or a sudden blow while fighting. Not just the physical injuries, a lot of oral and periodontal conditions might originate with mild pain or swelling but can ultimately lead to life-threatening predicaments that compel emergency dental treatment.
You must first identify if your problem requires emergency treatment, or can it be delayed for an elective procedure. Only a well-skilled and trained dentist must be referred to in such conditions because the teeth are very fragile structures, and any iatrogenic damage may cause irreversible difficulties.
You must always stay observant towards your dental health, and if any anomaly is present, you must seek dental service help at the earliest possible.
After reading this article, you will be able to recognize the symptoms you face that will require emergency treatment and also how you can manage first aid in case of such an emergency until you reach the dentist.
Table of Contents
How to identify a dental emergency?
Pain is not an absolute indication of an emergency. There are many such painless conditions which may prove to be fatal if immediate care is not provided.
However, pain, if experienced, can be highly variable in severity and also the character of pain, is explicit of certain conditions. Let me cite an example,
If you experience a sharp shooting kind of pain, it is mostly a manifestation of pulp reversible pulpitis. In contrast, if your pain is peri-radicular, it is primarily indicative of periodontal disease.
Trauma is one of the leading causes requiring emergency dental treatment. A traumatic accident can affect your teeth and oral cavity as a whole in multiple ways. It mostly fractures your teeth or the surrounding bony structures and may go on to involve the tooth structures from enamel to root. The involvement of the root is very hazardous as it may even expose the underlying nerve roots and may lead to their permanent damage.
Do dental prosthesis mishaps require emergency treatment?
Yes, dental prosthesis mishaps do form a considerable chunk of conditions requiring a hasty treatment.
If you have got a dental filling, then it may, in some cases, become loose and spill out from the tooth cavity. This has a potential ability to cause damage to surrounding structures as the edges of hollow cavities must be very sharp and rugged. Also, there is a risk of aspiration of the filling material.
Or, in other cases, a dental crown, denture, or veneer may become fragile either due to a superimposed infection or in trauma.
Failed dental implants are another major problem.
What are some acute oral conditions requiring surgical management?
There are many conditions that might not resolve by mere chairside management and require surgical intervention. These conditions pose a threat to the life of the patient. You must identify them and make sure that the patient receives treatment at the earliest possible.
Cellulitis which is manifested as an acute painful swelling in the region of face or mouth, post-traumatic hematoma formation or swelling involving lips, gums, teeth, or palate.
Complications occur post-extraction of wisdom teeth, such as a dry socket, where nerve roots are exposed or uncontrollable hemorrhage occurs due to any underlying cause, be it trauma or surgery.
Thus, you must stay quiet vigilant for your oral health, especially if you have had any iatrogenic intervention.
What first-aid measures can be taken before reaching the dental practice?
If you are facing trouble, the first thing to do is not to panic. Stay calm, and it will help you to make wise decisions. If you have met with an accident and there is a gush of bleeding from the broken tooth, first look if the tooth is still attached to the socket or have completely fallen out. If the tooth is still attached to the device, try to compress and stop the bleeding. If the tooth has fallen out and is covered with dirt, don’t put it back in your mouth. Carry it with you to the dentist.
If you are suffering from any other painful condition or swelling in the buccal cavity region, you can take over the counter analgesics or anti-inflammatory drugs. If you are suffering from severe sensitivity, post wisdom tooth extraction, you can try a home-based remedy as first -aid treatment. Take a gauge of cotton and soak it in clove-oil and place it in the area of the socket.
These first aid conditions will provide you with temporary relief from the condition, only until you reach the emergency dentist. Such conditions can be tackled efficiently only by skilled professional emergency dentists. Conway House Dental Practice in High Wycombe is an optimum dental practice, where a 24-hour emergency dentist is present at your disposal to aid you in emergencies.
How does a dentist deal with dental emergencies?
Quick action and excellent skills are very essential in managing dental emergencies. Some conditions require immediate oral surgery to control further damage to the mouth. To control severe bleeding, ligation of a blood vessel may be required. In case of circumstances, where the root is involved, emergency root canal treatment may help in saving the tooth.
When a tooth is severely infected or necrosed, emergency tooth extraction is required to be performed.
The acute oral conditions must be given priority in treatment as a delay in handling these may subsequently prove to be fatal. If the inflammatory has progressed and has become infected to form an abscess, it has to be incised and drained for immediate pain relief.
For dental prostheses mishaps, immediate repair or replacement is the treatment of choice.
Now, you can identify with precision, which conditions require emergency service and which can be managed with a slight delay.
Every condition requires different lines of management, and dentists at Conway House dental practice are well versed in dealing with these conditions.
You can telephone reception of the above dental practice immediately on 01494 526578 or call 07957393008.