The Search for an Emergency Dentist

You or someone in your family has a dental problem that needs to be addressed immediately. You have injured or knocked out a tooth and you are in pain. You desperately require the help of an emergency dentist. Who can you turn to at this hour of the day or night? Is there such a thing as a 24 hour emergency dentist? Is it possible to find emergency dental care in the area you live in?

It is likely that all of these questions will go through your mind all at once as you scramble to decide what you should do. This is not a situation you have ever been faced with before so you feel uncertain and quite lost. Let us look at the options that you have in front of you.

The first thing you should do is to look to your own dentist. As far as an emergency dentist is concerned, the dentist you see for regular maintenance is your best bet and should be your first line of defense. If you call your dental practitioner when the office is closed you are likely to hear a phone number on the recording that you can call for emergency service. This is one way in which dentists see to it that their valued patients are well taken care of. After all no one can predict when a dental emergency will happen and it often happens at the most inopportune times!

The next time you visit your tooth doctor you should ask him what you should do in case of an emergency on a weekend or holiday. If he can provide you with an emergency telephone number then if something happens to one of your teeth and it is an emergency situation you can call the number right away and no delay will be necessary. Keep the number handy. Make sure you have it written down at home and also in your wallet.

If your dentist does not have an emergency dentist on call then you might want to head to the local emergency room in your city. While some ERs do have dentists on call, others do not. There is only one way to find out- make your way there!

If you are in terrible pain or are bleeding a great deal from your mouth then you should not hesitate to visit the emergency room. The same can be said if you have suffered a tooth and/or mouth injury that is accompanied by chills or a fever. In this case you need to be seen by the on-call dentist. Some emergency rooms may not have a dentist right there but can call one in to see a patient who needs dental help right away. Whatever you do, do not try to treat an injury yourself but instead seek out the help you need.