It’s not unusual to panic when severe tooth pain or a dental injury occurs, but it’s important that you take control of the situation right away. Call Today’s Family Dental immediately when you have an oral health issue that needs to be treated right away. We’ll make time to see you quickly, relieve your pain, and figure out what kind of care you need to protect and restore your smile. Make sure that you have our contact information in your phone, so you can get in touch with us when it counts - to receive emergency dentistry in Wasthington, NJ.
Why Choose Today’s Family Dental for Emergency Dentistry?
Clean, Safe Dental Office Environment
Empathetic and Caring Dental Team
Dentist’s Cell Phone Always Available
How We Treat Dental Emergencies
Obviously, no two emergencies are the same, so we need to tailor our approach as the situation develops. That said, there are four main stages of an emergency treatment.
Making an Appointment: We will schedule to see you as soon as possible once you call to explain your emergency. Dr. De Rosso’s cell phone is always available through the answering machine and after hours. If you need help performing first aid, we can give you tips based on the information you provide over the phone.
Emergency Examination: Once you arrive, we’ll take steps to get you out of immediate, severe pain while also gathering information via examination and X-rays to determine the source of the problem.
Review Findings: After the examination, we will discuss our findings and explain what treatments can be used to repair the damage, stop your pain, and/or prevent the problem from growing worse. An estimated price and timeline will be provided to help you make your decision.
Get the Care You Need: Once a course of treatment is decided on, we’ll work quickly to correct the problem and restore your health, be it with a filling, a root canal, or another treatment.
The Most Common Dental Emergencies
Persistent oral pain and notable damage to the teeth or gums are both warning key warning signs of a dental emergency, but some issues are harder to identify than others. Below are some examples of particularly common emergencies; call us immediately if you experience one of the issues listed below.
It’s impossible to tell you how much your emergency care will cost until we see you. We need to fully evaluate your situation and decide which treatments are best for your situation before we can give you an estimate. Rest assured, though, that you will always know the price of your treatment before actually starting it, and we’ll help you take steps to make it affordable. Getting dental care as soon as possible can end up saving you a lot of time and money, as waiting too long can lead to more serious damage that’s harder to treat.
Keys to Preventing Dental Emergencies
It’s always a better idea to prevent an emergency rather than to have it treated after it already occurs. Simple preventive measures you can take include:
Visiting your dentist twice a year so that they can spot and stop problems early
Maintaining good oral hygiene habits at home (brushing, flossing, and so on)
Limiting intake of sugary or acidic foods
Wearing a mouthguard when playing sports
Wearing a nightguard to protect yourself from bruxism
Opening packaging with tools instead of your teeth
Is My Toothache a Dental Emergency?: Tooth pain may or may not be a dental emergency. If something is lodged in your teeth, you can usually remove it on your own. Otherwise, call our dental office immediately if you experience pain that lasts longer than a day, fatigue, swelling, tooth sensitivity that lasts longer than 30 seconds, a small bump forming near the tooth, and discomfort whenever you bite down.
How You Should Handle a Toothache: Rinse with warm salt water to flush out debris and get rid of bacteria. Use dental floss or a water irrigator if something is stuck between your teeth. Take an over-the-counter pain reliever to reduce your discomfort while waiting for your emergency appointment.
How We Treat Toothaches: We may recommend antibiotics, fillings, crowns, periodontal therapy, root canal therapy, tooth extraction, or other forms of treatment depending on what caused your toothache. Regardless of what treatment we recommend, we’ll take the time to fully inform you about the details.
Chipped Tooth
Is a Chipped Tooth a Dental Emergency?: You might chip a tooth if you fall down suddenly or bite into something hard with just a little too much force. If there’s no pain, you don’t have to get treatment right away, but you shouldn’t wait longer than 2 days, as you could be at risk for infection.
How You Should Handle a Chipped Tooth: Gather any chipped pieces to take with you when you visit our dental office. Rinse out any debris with warm water. Apply dental wax or sugarless gum to the rough edges of the tooth. Do not chew with the side of the mouth where the damaged tooth is located.
How We Treat Chipped Teeth: We will check the tooth to see how bad the damage is, then decide on the best way to repair it. For minor chips, we typically offer direct bonding; however, if the damage is more extensive (especially if it puts the tooth at risk for infection), then we may need to consider alternative treatments.
Cracked Tooth
Is a Cracked Tooth a Dental Emergency?: A cracked tooth is definitely an emergency. You may not experience pain or even be able to see the damage, but there’s a chance that the crack might extend beneath the gum line, and that calls for immediate treatment.
How You Should Handle a Cracked Tooth: Rinse with warm salt water immediately; bacteria could slip through the crack and infect the pulp of the tooth, so keeping the area clean is key. The edges of the tooth may be jagged or rough, so apply dental wax or sugarless gum to the area to protect your soft tissues.
How We Treat Cracked Teeth: A minimal crack can sometimes be repaired with composite resin, while a more severe crack might call for a customized dental crown. And if the tooth has been so badly damaged that it cannot be saved at all, we’ll need to extract it in order to protect the rest of your natural smile.
Very Sensitive Teeth
Are very sensitive teeth a dental emergency?
There are many reasons why tooth sensitivity may occur, including exposed tooth roots and enamel erosion. While mild cases are generally non-urgent, your situation is considered a dental emergency if you experience any of the following:
Extreme sensitivity
Noticeable pain
Sensitivity that lasts multiple days or impacts one to two teeth
How you should handle sensitive teeth:
Call our office right away. We’ll get you scheduled as soon as possible and provide first aid instructions over the phone to help you manage your situation in the meantime. You can ease your discomfort by drinking lukewarm water, avoiding spicy and sweet foods, and taking over-the-counter pain medication.
How we treat tooth sensitivity:
First, we’ll need to examine your tooth to identify the root cause of your sensitivity. Depending on the underlying issue, we may recommend desensitizing toothpaste, prescription mouthwash, topical fluoride therapy, antibiotics, gum disease treatment, and root canal therapy.
Yes! Time is of the essence in this situation. Call our office immediately after your tooth is knocked out if you want a better chance of saving it. The sooner you get to our office, the more likely we’ll be able to reimplant your tooth.
How you should handle a knocked-out tooth:
Once you find the tooth, be sure to pick it up by the crown portion only. Avoid touching the root or removing any tissue attached. Carefully rinse the tooth with water and store it in milk or saline solution to keep it preserved. If you have one, you can also use an ADA-approved tooth preservation kit.
How we treat knocked-out teeth:
Dr. De Rosso should be able to successfully reimplant the tooth if it’s still viable and not severely damaged. However, if it’s been outside of the mouth for too long or if it’s damaged beyond repair, you may need to explore your tooth-replacement options (i.e., dentures, dental implants, dental bridges).
Dental restorations are certainly durable, but they’re not meant to last forever. Once they reach the end of their lifespan, they can break down or fall off completely. Although it’s not considered an urgent situation, you should still contact our office and seek treatment as soon as possible.
How you should handle a lost filling or crown:
Locate the restoration and store it in a clean sealable container. Make sure you bring it with you to your appointment! While you can try to temporarily reseat a dental crown to your tooth using special cement, you shouldn’t attempt it for a dental filling.
How we treat lost fillings or crowns:
If your restoration is relatively new and undamaged, Dr. De Rosso may be able to recement it into place. On the other hand, you may need to opt for a replacement if your crown or filling is damaged beyond repair.
