Maintaining proper oral hygiene is as important as maintaining one's personal hygiene. Visiting a dentist regularly would ensure proper oral hygiene and would lessen the chances of any infections or oral diseases. However, there are chances of you having to visit your dentist on an emergency due to various reasons. Let us look into some of them in detail.
When you have an emergency dental problem, the first thing that you should do is call your dentist. Your dentist would put your case under priority and would make sure that he/she fixes you an appointment on the same day. Most dentists would have a separate phone number for out-of-hours emergency cases. If your dentist isn't available, the hospital reception can be contacted and an appointment can be fixed.
A dental emergency can fall into two categories, namely, visible damage and onset of pain, which indicates a decay in the underlying tissue. Visible damage includes cracked teeth, chipped teeth, tooth fracture, teeth which have been knocked in or knocked out, split teeth, the problem with braces, etc. Such a damage due to physical trauma can occur when you're playing sports when you fall down or even when you bite down on something very hard. They are unexpected and not much can be done to avoid them. In such cases, immediate dental care has to be rendered and if necessary, a surgery has to be performed. If the damage is minimal, then dental cement is sufficient to fill in the cracks.
On the other hand, pain may be caused due to the decay of teeth. Generally, tooth decay can be spotted during regular dental check-ups and can be treated before it becomes too serious. But, when a patient doesn't go for regular dental check-ups, cavities and other infections go unnoticed and chances of these infections becoming worse are high. In the case of sudden pain due to decay, the dentist fills the cavity with a filling, which would reduce the pain for the time being. But, if the pain is unbearable due to the onset of an abscess, immediate dental care would be required, which may include a surgery or even tooth extraction.
External trauma shouldn't be ignored as there are high chances of a simple crack developing into a bigger one and causing the failure of a tooth. If by any chance you have a cracked tooth and you bite into something hard, the tooth might fracture and may have to be removed. Hence, dental first aid is very important. The most important thing during an emergency is not to panic and consult a dentist as soon as possible. Your dentist would definitely fix you an appointment and make sure that your problem is rectified immediately.
910 Willow Rd Menlo Park, CA, Menlo Park, CA 94025
Phone: (650) 326-3764
Email: wfdfront@yahoo.com
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