You know the drill; waking up at 2 am with a toothache usually points to nothing less than a dental emergency.
But were you aware that many other kinds of dental emergencies don’t necessarily involve discomfort?
At Glenside Dental, our emergency and general dentist Glenside is always on hand to help our patients who are experiencing a dental emergency and will aim to have your dental issue resolved within 24 hours of you contacting our clinic. Great!
So, aside from discomfort, what are some of the other signs that you need an emergency trip to see our team? Our general dentist Glenside provides the following list.
Swelling
If you’ve ever seen a cartoon depicting toothache, the character is usually drawn with swelling to their face and a bandage wrapped under their jaw and around their head.
While comical, according to our general dentist Glenside, there is a lot of truth to this image. Severe dental pain is often accompanied by swelling to the face, especially if the underlying cause is an abscess or impacted tooth. So, irrespective of whether or not your dental swelling is hurting, if you notice any swelling to your face, jaw or mouth, you need to see our team urgently.
Detached bracket
If you wear braces, it can come as a bit of a surprise if one of your brackets suddenly detaches from your tooth.
In this case, while it may not seem like an emergency, it can cause issues with your orthodontic treatment and needs to be corrected urgently. You will need to book an appointment to see your dentist, but in the meantime, our team can provide you with a temporary refit of the detached brackets.
Lost or loose filling or crown
Many people have fillings or crowns, but while these restoratives are great at repairing teeth damaged by decay, they very rarely last forever. And if you have amalgam fillings or crowns, due to the way they expand and shrink with the temperature of drinks that are consumed, they are more likely to fall out or come loose.
And so, if you have a suspicion that either a filling or crown is loose or one falls out, you need to see our team promptly to have it refitted. This will prevent discomfort, damage to the tooth and, of course, abscesses.
Crack or chip
Cracks and chips to enamel are easy to obtain, and if you spot a crack or chip on one of your teeth, our team will need to see you urgently. Damage to the enamel can allow bacteria to gain access to the subsurface of the tooth, leading to decay and even dental infections.
Bleeding
When you have had trauma to your face or mouth, bleeding is to be expected.
However, if applying continuous pressure to the source of the bleed with clean gauze does not slow down the bleeding, then you need to see our team. This will allow us to stitch or glue the source of the bleed and prevent any further blood loss and discomfort.
DISCLAIMER
All treatment carries risks. Individual consultation is required with one of our practitioners to ensure that the treatment is right for you.