It doesn’t matter how severe or small the issue we will endeavour to get back to feeling comfortable and pain free as soon as possible. All our dental professionals are trained in immediate care for dental emergencies, which are urgent issues requiring prompt attention to alleviate pain, stop bleeding, or prevent more serious complications.
FAQs
Dental Emergencies can be broken up into 2 main categories: Potentially Life Threatening and Dental Emergencies requiring Urgent Care
1. Potentially Life Threatening Emergencies require you to go immediately to A&E.
This includes:
- Facial swelling affecting your vision, breathing, or preventing you from opening your mouth beyond 2 finger widths.
2. Acute Dental Emergency requiring Urgent Care.
This includes
- Severe Toothache: Intense pain that is not relieved by over-the-counter painkillers.
- Broken or Chipped Tooth
- Knocked-Out Tooth
- Lost Filling or Crown
- Swelling and Abscess.
- Uncontrolled Bleeding Gums or Soft Tissue Injury
- Orthodontic broken wires or brackets.
- Cracked or Fractured Tooth
- Objects Stuck Between Teeth that cannot be removed by flossing
When you speak with one of our specifically trained dental personnel they will find a suitable appointment for you to address the matter. We are an incredibly busy clinic but we endeavour to attend to an patients presenting in pain or with an emergency as soon as possible.
Call our clinic and speak to our trained dental personnel about your issue. They will find an appropriate time to fit you into our Diary. Please give detailed information about the problem, including the type and intensity of pain, and any visible damage. This way we can be ready and ensure you receive the best care on arrival. The dental nurse may ask you to follow specific Instructions on how to manage pain or protect the affected area until you can be seen.
Most importantly its best to stay calm. This can usually be the time when a tooth thats been rumbling all day will really flare up with agonising, throbbing pain. If you have over the counter pain medication available at home you should take that first, keeping within the manufacturers dosage. Applying a hot water bottle over the facial area, or holding icy cold water in the area of the affected tooth can often give relief. If you really can’t sleep sometimes it a case of sitting up and watching some Netflix or listen to your favourite podcast to distract yourself until you can call our office in the morning. Usually patients will nod off again in later during the night.
If this happens please reassure your child, and stay calm. Its very important to keep your child, teenage, young adult relaxed and and positive. We are experts in dealing with this type of emergency and have seen the most horrendous dental accidents end up with beautiful, fully restored smiles. Save any broken pieces of the tooth, or teeth.
Ask your child to rinse their mouth with lukewarm water and apply pressure with a gauze, or any piece of cloth (but not tissue paper) to any bleeding areas. Use a cold compress if you have one, or a bag of peas, to reduce any swelling.
If this happens please reassure your child, and stay calm. It is very important not to panic the child. You must try and get your child to the dentist as soon as possible. It is very important that you only handle the tooth by the crown (the top part that you see in the mouth) without touching the root. The root has a periodontal ligament attached to it which we need to keep intact in order to successfully treat the trauma. If you are comfortable placing the tooth in its socket you should try to do this. If unable to do this, please place the tooth in a container of milk or saline solition. Do not scrub or clean the tooth.
You must seek dental care immediately, there is no need to phone ahead, call on the way and tell us you are on your way in as time is critical in this situation. Please check our opening hours first.
There are dental cements that you can get from a local pharmacy that should tie you over until you can see us. If that isn’t available please keep the crown in a safe place and bring it to the dentist where we can recement it.
Yes, the ear, temperomandibular joint (TMJ) and the muscles of the face, and the sinuses are all very intimately related. Its not uncommon for patients who are severely grinding their teeth at night to present with earaches. This can me quite debilitating for patients and can often be treated simply with a combination of painkillers and splint therapy;
