Emergency Dentistry

Emergencies happen! We are here to HELP!

We understand the urgency of your situation and will do our best to schedule you in as soon as possible and get you out of pain and back to your life. Dental pain is real and can lead to severe infections, which could be life-threatening.

Call us today at 586-247-3500

Common Causes of Dental Emergencies

Trauma to the face and mouth

Accidents happen, whether you have been in a car crash, had a bad fall, cracked or broke a tooth, or had trauma to your mouth there is one thing these all have in common and it’s their sudden and unpredictable nature. In these situations time is of the essence, the sooner you get care the better your potential outcome. If a tooth is injured or had fallen out of your mouth call our office immediately and take these steps if applicable.

What to do in case of Tooth Trauma:

• Tooth injured from a fall or blow to the mouth/jaw: Please seek immediate attention, contact us at 586-247-3500.  We will direct you and take care of you as soon as possible.
• Dislodged tooth from the mouth: Do your best to recover the tooth.  Handle it by the crown (white) portion only and rinse it in milk to remove any contaminates. If it is possible, place the tooth back into the dental socket where it came from and get to the dentist immediately.  The longer it takes to put the tooth back into the socket the poorer the prognosis of saving the tooth.  You never want to have it dry out.  If this is not possible and the tooth is from a child put it in your own mouth to keep it moist.
• Broken/Chipped Tooth: if it broke into a couple of pieces then try to recover the pieces and place them into a zip block bag and bring them with you to your appointment. If anything can be done to restore your tooth using those pieces we will need them with you. Many times it is possible to bond the pieces together and get a great result.

Nerve Infection

Dental infections most commonly occur when cavities develop in a tooth that makes their way to the dental pulp. Bacteria live in the cavity and when a cavity progresses to the pulp, it infects the nerve and blood vessels which is a superhighway to the bone surrounding the tooth. When the infection extends beyond the nerve of the tooth it will start to live off of the bone. It will progress and build up pressure which makes a tooth hurt when biting down on. If this continues it will bore a hole in the bone and eventually making its way to the soft tissue. The gum tissue will swell out at this point and if it continues may make its way down the neck or even into the brain if it is an upper tooth. As the bone loss progresses it is easier to see on a dental x-ray. In the early stages of an infection, it may not show up on an x-ray.

Treatment for a dental infection includes:

• Extraction:  An extraction is an effective way to remove an infection.  If the infection is from the nerve or the tissue around the tooth the process of removing the source of infection in almost immediate relief of pain and pressure associated with an infected tooth. An antibiotic can be used before the procedure to make the numbing agent called local anesthesia work better therefore requiring less.  Many times a tooth can be removed even though there is an infection present.  Of course, it would need to be assessed by us first.
• Root canal:  This is the process of removing an infected nerve which is in the tooth.  This procedure is not as painful as people make it out to be if the tooth is adequately numbed up and it can usually be accomplished at the same day that the patient comes into the office on a dental emergency.  By removing the infected nerve it releases the pressure from the tooth and the bone, relieving the extreme pain from the infected tooth.

Pain around tooth and gums from bone loss

If there is bone loss around a tooth and it becomes infected it may not be painful until it is too late and needs to be extracted. Periodontal disease is also known as Gum disease can be severe but it is misleading because the bone loss around a tooth is not painful as much as an infection from inside of the tooth and many people ignore the signs of these types of infections. If your teeth are loose, you have bad breath or your gums bleed when brushing you probably have periodontal disease. Prevention is the best way to avoid the silent disease which could lead to tooth loss.