5 Signs You Should Seek Emergency Dental Care | Coogee Plaza Dental

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emergency dentist

75% of people who seek emergency dentistry may be under the age of 24, but dental emergencies affect all Australians at some point or another.

Most dental problems aren’t serious. You can wait until your bi-annual teeth cleaning to discuss the issue with your dentist. Sometimes, though, more serious issues require immediate attention.

Whether you’re injured in the mouth or you’ve let a cavity go untreated for too long, a quick trip to your emergency dentist can help prevent further damage.

Are you wondering about the symptoms and signs of a tooth emergency? Then check out this guide to the top 5 reasons to see an emergency dentist near you.

5 Signs You Need Emergency Dentistry

When you’re dealing with a serious dental issue, seeking care sooner is better than waiting until later. Your local emergency dentist can treat most dental issues, including the five we’re mentioning below.

However, if your dental emergency is life-threatening, go straight to an emergency hospital.

1. You Crack or Chip a Tooth

A study in Queensland looked at the top reasons for emergency dental cases in children. While cavities were responsible for most cases, 8% to 9% of subjects sought care for trauma-related dental issues.

Trauma to the mouth can occur for many reasons. Yet, whether a car accident or a sports game is the cause, cracking or chipping a tooth is extremely painful and can lead to more problems. For example:

  • Cracks can cause a split tooth if left untreated
  • Chips and cracks can injure the tooth root, leading to discolouration, decay, and infection
  • Chips can make it easier to chip or crack your tooth in the future

So, what should you do when you crack or chip a tooth? Seek emergency dentistry as soon as possible. Your dentist will treat the current imperfection and investigate any further or underlying damage.

2. You Knock a Tooth Loose

For children, it’s perfectly normal to have non-trauma-related loose teeth. As an adult, though, your teeth should never wiggle, and they should definitely never fall out. If you’re dealing with a loose or wiggly tooth, you need to see an emergency dentist immediately.

There are a few reasons you may be experiencing loose teeth. For example, an injury to your mouth or tooth can cause damage. Another cause of loose teeth is an infection, especially when the loose tooth is accompanied by a severe toothache.

Call your emergency dentist as soon as possible if you’re in a car accident or other head or mouth-related injury. You should also see your dentist for toothaches that aren’t associated with trauma. That way, he or she can investigate the real cause of your aching tooth and treat it at the source.

3. You Have a Severe Toothache

In a study of Hobart dental emergencies, researchers found that 66% are due to abscesses (see below) and toothaches. You can treat mild toothaches with over-the-counter (OTC) pain killers. But severe toothaches are a sign that you need to see a dentist now.

Severe or prolonged toothaches that reoccur frequently are usually symptoms of bigger problems, including:

  • Dental caries (cavities)
  • Impacted wisdom teeth
  • Periodontal disease (gum disease)

An emergency dentist will prescribe you either OTC or prescription pain killers to get you back on your feet. Meanwhile, they’ll use x-rays and other techniques to identify the underlying cause of your toothaches. Treatment will depend on your dentist’s official diagnosis of the cause of infection.

4. Your Gums Bleed and Ache

A little bleeding after forgetting to floss for a few weeks is somewhat normal. It may be one of the early signs of gingivitis, but it’s not technically a dental emergency. However, when your teeth bleed profusely and often, leaving your gums aching, that’s a sign it’s time for emergency dentistry.

Here’s why: bleeding gums that ache are a sign that you’re progressing toward gum disease. If you want to keep your natural teeth, you need to act fast. After all, catching gum disease in its earliest stages is the only way to keep it from getting worse and you from having to pay for an implant.

Depending on the stage of gum disease you’re experiencing, your dentist may prescribe either more frequent and intensive cleanings or surgery. Surgical techniques treat the advanced stages of gum disease and include tissue or bone grafts, flap surgery, tissue regeneration, and bone surgery.

5. Your Teeth are Showing Symptoms of Abscesses

An abscess is a painful infection in the root of a tooth. Usually, an untreated cavity or advancing stages of gum disease causes the infection. Physical trauma to your mouth, including chipping or cracking a tooth, is another common reason for developing an abscess.

You can tell if you’re dealing with dental abscesses by the following symptoms:

  • Fever
  • Bad breath or a foul taste in your mouth
  • Pus
  • Swollen glands

When you head in to see your emergency dentist, they’ll first rule out other infections that could be causing the abscess. Then, they’ll prescribe treatment. In most cases, treatment for an abscess involves surgery to clear out and treat the infected root.

Got a Tooth Emergency? Head to an Emergency Dentist in Coogee WA Now!

Dental emergencies can be devastating. Yet, they don’t have to be. As long as you seek medical attention as soon as you begin to experience any of the signs or symptoms we’ve mentioned above, you’ll be back up and at it in no time.

Do you need an emergency dentist in Coogee WA now? Call Coogee Plaza Dental today!