An Overview of Emergency Dentistry and Dental Emergencies
Dental emergencies occur when least expected and should be treated in a speedy process to avoid severe damage. Dental practitioners are supposed to use their professional knowledge to develop an effective solution for each specific dental emergency.
What Is a Dental Emergency?
Any issue involving teeth and oral tissues requiring immediate treatment to stop acute pain, bleeding, or save a tooth can be considered a dental emergency. While some oral problems can wait, others may need immediate medical attention. Emergency dental care at Chantilly Dental Arts Center includes various procedures that try to fix damages caused by trauma to a person’s jaw or tissues around the teeth.
Oral issues that need urgent dental care should be attended to by an emergency dentist as soon as possible. This helps to avoid delays that might later cause serious damages to oral structures or expensive procedures in the future. If you have any abnormality in your teeth, gums, or mouth and you think it qualifies as a dental emergency, it is crucial that you seek emergency dental care from your nearest provider. Early detection is important for oral hygiene and general body health.
Who Is an Emergency Dentist?
This is an oral healthcare professional who treats patients that need instant dental care. A competent and experienced emergency dentist should be able to handle the serious problems that patients bring forward. However, some cases may require you to see a specialist.
Why Patients Seek Emergency Dental Care
Here a few reasons why one might need to see an emergency dentist in Chantilly:
- Acute toothache
Typically, your dental formula should be painless and comfortable; thus, if you develop any sudden pain, it means there’s a problem that needs to be addressed. This could be a sign of gum disease, tooth decay, exposed roots, or oral infections.
- Abscess
This is an oral condition that starts with a pimple-like bump between one’s gums. It is associated with mild pain, but the pain intensity can quickly increase with time. It would help if you visited a dentist near you for an evaluation and treatment. Failure to do so can lead to the spread of the issue to other body parts leading to serious health complications.
- Broken tooth
In case one notices that their tooth is broken and it is painful, they should visit an emergency dentist. Such a tooth may create a passage route for harmful bacteria responsible for cavities or even tooth loss. Early treatment will help avoid further complications.
- Bleeding gums
Bleeding gums can be brought about by trauma in the gums, lips, cheeks, or tongue. Bleeding is normal for a patient who has recently undergone an invasive procedure. Still, when the bleeding doesn’t stop and is followed by pain and swelling of the gum, it becomes important to visit a dentist.
- Losing a filling/crown
Such an occurrence could mean that there is a cavity that is forming inside your tooth. Lack of proper filling or a crown on your tooth could lead to increased tooth sensitivity. It’s advisable to see a dentist as soon as this occurs for an excellent oral health evaluation.
- Swollen mouth or jaw
A swollen jaw could be caused by infections or gum disease. In extreme cases, a swollen jaw could be an early sign of cancer. Emergency dental care and evaluation are recommended in such a case.
- A Knocked out tooth
Accidents happen every day, and sometimes people lose teeth. In case this occurs, and one has the tooth, they should store it in either milk or saltwater. Urgent dental care will help save it if this is done within an hour.
What Isn’t a Dental Emergency?
If the kind of dental issue affecting you can wait for a day or two, that is not a dental emergency. Mostly, if the pain is not much or the tooth doesn’t have cracks that could harm your mouth, one can opt to see the dentist later. Either way, this doesn’t mean that we should ignore any dental problems.
Importance of Emergency Dentistry
- Emergency dentistry helps save teeth while decreasing the danger of serious infections that could lead to harmful long-term outcomes.
- It can help save teeth from extreme pain enabling the patient to attend to their daily routines.
- Emergency dental services also save us from certain illnesses that can be caused by infections spreading to other parts of the body.
- Infections related to gums are painful and could easily cause tooth loss if not treated on time.