Emergency Treatment

1. Facial Swelling

If:

Go straight to the emergency ward at the hospital to receive IV antibiotics. We will also need to see you to remove the tooth, however controlling the spreading infection is a must. There are a lot of very important structures around, and a spreading dental infection can very rapidly become a serious medical issue, or even fatal.

Otherwise: give us a call straight away so we can arrange for you to be seen on this day. We set aside emergency appointments every day to make sure we can see you. We will assess what needs to be done and if you need antibiotics. There's a saying in dentistry: "Never let the sun set on a swelling".

Facial swellings often mean severe dental infection, which usually requires the tooth to be taken out. Make sure you try to eat and keep hydrated. Take two over-the-counter pain killers before your appointment so you have something in your system for when our numbing wears off.

The treatment changes depending on if it is a baby tooth (primary tooth) or adult tooth (permanent), and what sort of trauma occurred. Never put baby teeth back in or try to reposition them as you may damage the adult tooth which is growing underneath it. The following applies for adult teeth only:

2. Dental Trauma

Knocked a tooth out: Ouch! Try and stay calm. The faster it gets put in, the better.

If it has touched the ground, hold it by the crown of the tooth and rinse it as best you can with room temperature milk or solution from the chemist. Do not use plain water as it kills the cells. Do not scrub it.

Put it back in! The best place for the tooth to stay alive is in the socket itself. This may sound silly, but make sure it's the right way (we've seen teeth put in backwards before). Otherwise, you can store it in your cheek (don't swallow it) or in a glass of room temperature milk.

Come to us straight away. Don't worry about making an appointment, the clock is ticking, so we will see you right away. If after-hours, call us on the after-hours line.

Trauma to a tooth where its position of the tooth has changed, your bite has changed or the gum around the tooth is bleeding: call for an urgent appointment as we need to assess how much damage has been done and the appropriate treatment.

Tooth fracture: This depends on how large the fracture is. If it is just superficial and a little bit sensitive, it is not urgent. If it was a very hard hit or the tooth is now wobbly, we need to assess for bone fracture and other damage. If the tooth is bleeding out of the fracture, this is also an emergency and you need to be seen asap.

Note: if you still have the fractured bit of tooth, bring it in! Nothing matches your tooth as well as the tooth itself!

3. Toothache

Painful toothache means there is something wrong that needs attention. A true toothache means the nerve inside the tooth is dying or there is an abscess under the tooth. Please don't think this will go away by itself!

Toothaches can very quickly lead to spreading infection, which is very serious and can be fatal. This is even more urgent if you have any existing medical conditions –particularly, heart issues, transplant, diabetes, low immune system.

Cloves and pain killers can help with your symptoms but the cause of infection needs to be treated.