How to Save Your Smile in a Dental Emergency

If you are experiencing a dental emergency, stay calm, call our office, and do the following things before you see your dentist or dental professional:

• Knocked-out Tooth: If you have knocked a tooth out of your mouth, it is very important that you see your dentist within the next hour if you want to save your tooth. Until you see your dentist, you can try to put the tooth back into its socket without forcing it. If that is not possible, you can keep the tooth in a cup of milk or a cup of water with a pinch of table salt.

• Broken or Chipped Tooth: If you have broken or chipped your tooth, try and retrieve as many pieces of the tooth as possible. If they are dirty, you can wash the pieces with warm water. To stop any bleeding, you can apply a gauze pad or cloth to the affected area. To reduce swelling, place an ice pack outside the affected area.

• Lost Crown: If your dental crown has fallen off your tooth, please bring it with you when you come in for your emergency appointment. Until then, you can put clove oil over your tooth to relieve pain and you can coat the inside of the crown with over-the-counter dental cement or toothpaste. Once the inside is covered in either of these materials, you can slip the crown back over your tooth as a temporary measure.

• Lost Filling: If you have lost a dental filling, you can fill the hole of your tooth with over-the-counter dental cement or sugarless gum until you meet with your dentist.

• Extruded Tooth: If you have an extruded tooth, there is not much you can do other than see your dentist as soon as possible. To relieve pain, you can take over-the-counter pain medication and you can reduce swelling by icing the area.

• Toothache: If you have a toothache, try rinsing your mouth thoroughly with warm water. After you rinse your mouth, floss between each tooth and free any excess food that may be stuck. If this does not relieve the pain, you might have a decayed tooth. Until you meet with your dentist, you can take over-the-counter pain medication to dull the pain you feel.

If you would like more advice about what to do in a dental emergency, we invite you to call our office today and talk to a member of our team. We are happy to help you get through your dental emergency in a calm and successful way!