We understand that a dental emergency, whether it be from a broken tooth, toothache or loss of a filling, can be a stressful and painful situation, and that you need an emergency dentist straight away. Dental emergencies, especially for broken or knocked out teeth are often unexpected and highly time sensitive, which is why, here at Your Gold Coast Dentist, we set aside certain appointments each day to enable us to fit in emergency patients with our dentists.
If you need an emergency dentist on the Gold Coast, the kind, experienced staff at Your Gold Coast Dentist are the people to call.
Sometimes, in the midst of a stressful situation like a dental emergency, it can be difficult to know how to proceed. To help during times like these, we have prepared some information below to assist you with how to look after yourself or a loved one during different types of dental emergencies.
Dental Emergencies
Knocked Out Tooth
Having teeth knocked out is often an incident that we associate with children playing contact sports or falling off a bike, however, these accidents can happen to people of all ages.
If it is a baby tooth that has been knocked out, do not attempt to put the tooth back in place as this can damage the permanent tooth (adult tooth) that is emerging beneath.
If it is a permanent tooth, grasp the tooth by the crown (the white bit that would be visible if the tooth were in your mouth) and rinse it lightly with lukewarm water, milk or the owner’s saliva to remove any dirt. When rinsing a tooth, make sure to put the plug in the sink drain to make sure it doesn’t get lost. It is important to never touch the root of the tooth as it is extremely sensitive and easy to damage further.
To give the tooth the best prospects of survival, replace it back in the socket as soon as possible, making sure it is oriented correctly.
If you can’t but the tooth back in its socket, carefully submerge it in a container of milk or even the person’s saliva and bring it with you to the dentist as soon as possible.
When a tooth is knocked out, the thing that best determines its chance of survival is seeing a dentist immediately, so if you find yourself in this situation, give Your Gold Coast Dentist a call as soon as possible.
Broken or Chipped Tooth
The extent of the chip determines whether you’ll need to see an emergency dentist. If the chip or crack is just on the surface of the tooth, and is not causing you pain, it’s probably not a dental emergency, and you can afford to wait to book an appointment with your regular dentist.
However, more extensive breaks that impact the integrity of the tooth need to be addressed immediately. If more than a quarter of your tooth has broken off, you’re experiencing bleeding or are in pain, this constitutes a dental emergency.
If you can, collect the broken pieces of tooth and bring them with you, as they can be reattached in some cases. If not, chipped teeth are often easy to repair with great functional and aesthetic outcomes.
Toothache
Depending on the severity of your toothache, you may not feel that you need to be seen immediately, however, as is the case with most things in dental, it is better for your health and your wallet to be seen earlier rather than later.
Toothaches or severe sensitivity can be caused by a multitude of different things, including tooth decay, gum recession, trauma to the teeth, teeth grinding and infection.
Toothaches can seriously impact your quality of life as they can extremely painful and make it difficult to go about your daily life activities such as eating. Whatever the cause of your toothache, it is almost sure to worsen with time, and if left untreated, could lead to the infection spreading or loss of the tooth.
Here at Your Gold Coast Dentist, we use the most advanced technology in pain management and tooth restoration, and are confident in our ability to assist you with alleviating your pain.
Overall, the most important thing to remember when dealing with a dental emergency is to see a dentist as soon as possible.
If you need an emergency dentist on the Gold Coast, please do not hesitate to give us a call on (07) 5594 6699, even if you are unsure that your situation is an emergency, and our friendly, knowledgeable staff will be able to assist you.
