Seven Types of Dental Emergencies & What Should You Do?

Dental emergencies vary between everyone and are never similar. What might represent a minor toothache to you might have aggravated into a severe condition for another patient. What you consider minor bleeding from your teeth from an impact on your mouth might indicate severe periodontitis in someone else. Therefore you must have information on what you should do when facing any issue affecting your oral cavity and seek treatment from a professional best suited to deal with the problem.

Common Dental Emergencies Can Stress You

Every dental emergency is unique in that it is a severe problem causing stress in the affected individual. When you notice your sensitivity to hot and cold temperatures when eating and pain in a specific tooth, you might never realize that your tooth is severely damaged and needs the dreadful root canal or extraction because you probably left infections in the tooth untreated.

The affected tooth won’t let you eat, and your dislike for dentists will keep you away from dental visits. Unfortunately, when the toothache becomes severe, it stresses you. It makes you think about undergoing a painful treatment and spending thousands when you could comfortably treat the tooth with fillings for a fraction of the expenditure. Most dental emergencies cause you to feel you are about to lose your tooth and become vulnerable to considerable expense, but the need to overcome the dental situation stresses you further. Therefore even the most common dental emergency can worry you to make you run like a headless chicken.

Why does a Dental Emergency Need Proper Attention?

Any condition with your body or mouth needs attention from a professional with proper knowledge about your anatomy to treat the specific issue bothering you. For example, would you consider visiting the neighborhood motor vehicle body shop if you had an accident that left you with a broken arm? You would undoubtedly rush to the nearest emergency room instead of looking helter-skelter. Similarly, a dental emergency requires attention from the nearest emergency dentist near me and not any medical professional offering many services. Dentists are medical professionals with knowledge and training to treat issues with your oral cavity, which other medical professionals do not receive. Therefore if you have a dental situation, you need treatment from an emergency dentist and not any other professional.

Seven Dental Emergencies And Actions You Can Take Against Them

• Severe Toothache: a severe toothache doesn’t develop unless you have a condition with your teeth that you ignored or left untreated for too long. You can take over-the-counter painkillers to manage your situation initially, but if the condition aggravates, you mustn’t wait but seek immediate treatment from the emergency dentist in South Austin, TX, to possibly save your tooth from extraction if infections have reached the soft center of the tooth the dental pulp.
• Swollen Gums: Swollen gums indicate you might have gingivitis, especially if you don’t recollect what might have caused the condition. You might notice minor bleeding from your gums when eating or brushing. However, the situation needs immediate dental attention unless you are prepared to allow another infection in your mouth to aggravate and become your life partner.
• Bleeding Gums: bleeding from your gums frequently also indicates gum disease, but regular bleeding means the infection has spread to your bloodstream to make you vulnerable to health conditions like cardiovascular disease, respiratory infections, cancer, and diabetes. If you ignore the problem without visiting the dentist in South Austin, TX, for attention, you might become a victim of a severe condition that will send you to dentists every three months for extensive therapies.
• Mouth Sores: Do you notice sores in your mouth not healing within a couple of weeks? If so, you are in the midst of a severe condition that you must have evaluated immediately. The situation is oral cancer, and dentists can identify the problem by examining your mouth during routine exams. However, if you have a fever and swollen lymph nodes with challenges swallowing foods, you had better get it evaluated immediately by an emergency dentist to ensure you don’t have oral cancer that needs extensive treatment from different medical professionals.
• Loose tooth: adults with permanent loose teeth indicate signs that their gums have become weak and incapable of supporting teeth in the mouth. The symptom could indicate the presence of periodontitis, oral cancer, or similar problems. Whatever might cause the loosening of the tooth needs attention from a dental professional who suggests the appropriate remedy.
• Stiff Jaws: Stiffness in your jaws doesn’t result from regular movement but is a problem with your temporomandibular joint connecting your lower jaw to your skull. Problems with this jaw joint can cause persistent and debilitating problems causing challenges even when trying to open and close your mouth. Fortunately, dentists can provide a remedy for these disorders with nonsurgical therapies to help you recover within a few months.
• Metallic Taste in the Mouth: do you have a metallic taste in the mouth? Do you also have fillings in a tooth? Chances are the filling is broken or loosened. The problem can result in infections to your dental health and deteriorate quickly, making it essential to restore the tooth immediately without wasting time.

Dental emergencies, whatever the type, need immediate attention from dentists because they are the only professionals qualified and trained to treat situations in the oral cavity. You can try techniques to alleviate pain at home before you get to a dental professional. However, getting to a dentist is an essential requirement you can only overlook if you prepare yourself to lose your teeth or confront significant issues.

Whenever comforting a minor or significant dental emergency, Peak Dental — South Austin can help you by providing prompt attention when you visit the practice. Consult with this practice before considering heading elsewhere to seek treatment for a dental issue best managed by dentists.