When You Need an Emergency Dentist

When you find yourself in need of an emergency dentist, chances are that you’re not in a situation where you can think calmly and clearly. These situations often mean that you’re in a lot of pain, or possibly missing one or more teeth from an injury. It’s a good idea to have a plan of action in place before something happens so that you don’t have to waste any time trying to figure things out instead of just getting your situation resolved.

Before Something Happens

The best time to find an emergency dentist that will give you the care you need is before you need one. When you are in incredible pain or holding your broken tooth in your hand, it’s not the time to be frantically looking for a professional to help you. If you have a regular dental care provider that you go to, then he or she is the first one that you want to ask about care during an urgent situation, especially ones that occur before or after normal office hours and on weekends.

If your dental care provider doesn’t offer urgent care service, then he or she might be able to recommend someone who does. If not, then a little research might be in order. If you find someone other than your regular provider who seems competent and provides emergency after-hours care, be sure to find out if you can call on them even if you’re not a regular patient.

The Situation

Sometimes it’s very clear that you need to see an emergency dentist, but other times you may want to stop for a minute and think about it. If you have a toothache but there doesn’t seem to be much swelling or inflammation, try taking an over-the-counter analgesic first to see if that helps.

If you can get the pain to subside enough to let you wait until your dental care provider’s normal office hours, you can probably save yourself some money. In the case of a broken tooth, of course, time is of the essence, as it is if there is extreme pain, swelling, and inflammation, which signals an advanced infection.

Follow-up Care

After you receive care from an emergency dentist, you want to make sure that you keep any follow-up appointments if they are scheduled. You may feel better quickly after you receive treatment, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that everything is back to normal.

In cases such as a repaired broken tooth or an infection that is being cleared up with antibiotics, it’s imperative that you keep follow-up appointments to make sure that the procedure or medication has worked or is working properly. You can often make these appointments with your regular provider.

Hopefully you’ll never need an emergency dentist, but if you ever do, you’ll be glad that you made arrangements ahead of time so you’re not suddenly worried about what to do.