How to Realize if You Have a Dental Emergency?

Dental emergencies need immediate attention and treatment to preserve a tooth, alleviate pain or prevent a problem from aggravating. Some issues requiring emergency care start as minor problems like cavities. Unfortunately, they can exacerbate into a severe condition if left untreated.

How to Determine a Dental Emergency?

Determining whether a toothache can wait for treatment from your regular dentist or needs help from a dentist near you is only possible for some with adequate information about dental emergencies. This article describes situations that indicate dental emergencies and need treatment from an emergency dentist in your locality instead of waiting for your regular dentist.

• A Severe Toothache: Excruciating pain from a specific tooth is often a sign of needing assistance from a dental emergency in Mesa. The pain might result from infections in the soft tissues or exposure of the pulp chamber to mouth irritants. Dentists can diagnose the cause of your toothache to provide appropriate treatments.
• Bleeding And Painful Gums: bleeding and painful gums often indicate symptoms of severe infection periodontitis. Gum disease results in tender and swollen gums with bleeding when brushing and flossing. Gum disease also causes damage to the gums and bone tissues to loosen your teeth and cause them to fall out. Getting prompt treatment for gum disease in the early stages is essential because there is no cure if it advances. Early gum disease is reversible with deep cleanings and improved with oral hygiene. Unfortunately, if you are experiencing bleeding from periodontitis, you will need invasive treatments like gum and bone restoration surgery.
• Jaw Inflammation: swollen jaws are concerning because it is a symptom of a severe infection. Swollen jaws occur when your salivary glands become infected, resulting in challenges in breathing and swallowing. You may also experience radiating jaw or ear pain needing urgent care from a dentist.
• Dental Abscess: a dental abscess occurs from untreated infections in your tooth root. The condition is painful and often results from gum disease or tooth decay. A dental abscess requires help from an emergency dentist because it is a life-threatening condition that can spread your body to need treatments from different medical professionals. Minor oral surgeries performed by the emergency dentist can help treat a dental abscess by draining the infection and providing antibiotics to kill the bacteria responsible for the condition. You may also receive a suggestion for a root canal to help preserve your natural tooth.
• Loose Teeth: you should never have loose permanent teeth because it indicates something is wrong in your mouth. If left untreated, the loose tooth is susceptible to tooth loss. Therefore if you have a loose tooth in your mouth, you need emergency care to stabilize it to prevent its structure from further damage.

The abovementioned conditions are merely examples, and dental emergencies are not limited to these situations. For example, you can accidentally have a tooth knocked out when involved in contact sports or cycling around and falling. In such cases, you require help from a dentist or an emergency dentist within 30 minutes with the tooth in your possession maintained in a moist condition. If you get to the Mesa emergency dentist within the specified time, they can reinsert the tooth into its socket by splinting it to the adjacent tooth to allow its roots to reattach in a month or two. Meanwhile, you must continue to assess the tooth's condition by visiting your regular dentist for monitoring until it has stabilized.

Are Dental Emergencies Preventable?

Most dental emergencies, except for accidents, are entirely preventable cause they occur from negligence because of improper dental hygiene practices and neglected visits to your dentist for exams and cleanings.

If you are occupied with your dental hygiene regimen and see your dentist regularly, they can examine your teeth, look for signs of issues that might aggravate into emergencies, and suggest preventive practices to avoid them. You will also receive suggestions to wear mouthguards when playing sports or night guards to prevent damaging your teeth if affected by bruxism. Dentists recommend preventive dentistry because it helps you to avoid problems like tooth decay, enamel erosion, gum disease, et cetera to ensure you don't confront dental emergencies when least expected and need emergency dental care beyond office hours.

If you are unaware of what dental emergencies are, visiting Power Dental to examine and clean your teeth will make you aware of them and receive recommendations on how to prevent them. Therefore scheduling an appointment with the dental practice helps you realize what dental emergencies are and how to prevent them from aggravating by receiving timely treatment.