Many dental emergencies are unavoidable, but others are preventable. Emergencies due to an injury can happen to anyone, regardless of a person’s overall dental health. However, ignoring a dental problem will likely result in a dental emergency. Procedures like wisdom teeth removal will help people avoid complications like impacted teeth down the road. The sooner you get help, the better.
It’s important to understand what constitutes a true emergency when it comes to your dental health. For example, is bleeding gum an emergency? How about a broken tooth? What is a dental emergency?
Do I Need an Emergency Dentist?
It is a good idea to start by understanding what a dental emergency actually is. Dental emergencies are anything acute issue that involves your mouth or jaw. That means some things you might consider medical is probably dental such as a broken jaw or fractures in facial bones.
While some emergencies will need to be addressed at a hospital, many dental emergencies can be addressed at Lovett West U. Anything that involves a broken bone should take you to the hospital. They can call in a dental specialist to treat you there. Things that happen inside your mouth are often treatable in the dentist’s office.
What Is a Dental Emergency?
To determine if something is a dental emergency, ask yourself some questions, such as:
- Are you in intense pain? The pain would indicate an emergency situation.
- Did you lose a tooth? Do you still have the tooth? This would be an emergency because the dentist might be able to save your tooth.
- Do you have an infection? Any infection is serious because it can travel into the blood and cause more damage. This is a potentially life-threatening emergency. If you can’t reach your dentist, go to the emergency room.
- Are you bleeding in your mouth? You should take steps to stop the bleeding that applying pressure. If you can’t stop it, it is an emergency.
Generally speaking, any dental problem that you think requires immediate treatment is probably an emergency. When you call the office, the dentist or a member of the staff can confirm if it is or not for you.
What Isn’t a Dental Emergency?
While some dental procedures are preventative, many are purely cosmetic. Needing Chrom tooth polish is not an emergency. A toothache that only hurts a little doesn’t fall into this category, either. If the pain is bad, then the problem is more likely an infection. Making sure to get cavities filled in a timely fashion will help prevent a dental emergency in the future. A lost filling or crown is not usually an immediate emergency. If you are experiencing considerable pain, there may be an infection.
If in doubt, assume you need to see the dentist and make the call. At Lovett Dental, we offer emergency dental services that allow you to be seen by one of our specialists without an appointment or outside our regular operating hours. You can call our office and talk to someone to see if you need to come in to see a dentist at any of our locations.
Lovett Dental West U is a full-service family dental practice offering a variety of dentistry services, including:
We employ some leading dental specialists in Houston at our Buffalo Speedway office. You can come to one of our offices for everything from a check-up to an implant to various types of dental emergencies. No matter what level of dental care you need, we have a Houston dentist ready to help. Don’t wait for a dental emergency before searching “dentist near me.” Give us a call at 832-617-5530 or fill out the Lovett Dental West U online contact form to get help.
