Like medical problems, some people wonder if their dental problem is serious enough to make an emergency dental appointment. When you have dental pain, it can come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and degrees so knowing what kind of pain is the most serious will help you avoid unnecessary bills. It will even help you get back to feeling good quickly. No matter if your dental pain is from an untreated infection or if you had an accident while playing softball with friends, it is important to address your dental problems before they become more serious and possibly more expensive.
While calling the dentist and making an appointment may not seem that important if you have a dull ache that comes and goes, if you keep delaying the appointment, you may need to address a dental emergency before you know it. The sooner you address a toothache, the less damage the dentist will have to repair or address. Here are three signs you should treat your dental pain as an emergency:
1. The tooth pain is persistent and intense. If you have pain in any part of your body, your brain is signaling that something is wrong. When it comes to toothaches, the pain can disrupt your thinking, prevent you from carrying on with your day normally, and will not go away on its own. You can try to use over the counter pain relievers and ice to address the pain, but if you are not getting any relief from these efforts, you will need to see a dentist.
2. The pain is accompanied by swelling and it doesn’t improve over time. Should you notice that there is swelling around your tooth or that your jaw is swollen in one area, take action. The swelling is often a sign of infection; your gums or tooth need treatment before the infection spreads. An infection in your gum can look like an abscess and it will not go away over time. If your tooth is infected you may need a root canal or the tooth may need to be extracted depending on how advanced the infection is.
3. There is severe damage to your tooth. When we use our teeth to open packages or when we crunch down on fruit pit, we can crack or chip our teeth. In these instances, the dentist can address these problems during a regular dental appointment. If you have been in a car accident or you were hit in the mouth unexpectedly without a mouth guard, the break in the tooth may be larger or you may have even cracked the tooth below the gumline. In these cases when you can see the damage to your teeth and you have serious pain as a result, it is time to go to the dentist. Depending on the damage, you may need to have your tooth extracted to prevent a future infection.
When these types of pain are what you are experiencing, it is time to make an emergency dental appointment for a tooth extraction or even an emergency oral surgery.