When people think about emergency care, they tend to picture injured or sick individuals being rushed to the emergency room for life-saving treatment. More often than not, the setting is in a hospital, and emergencies are typically considered life-threatening.
However, there is one kind of emergency medical care that many often neglect to think about. This is an emergency dentistry, which involves treating dental conditions that require immediate attention. Unlike cases such as having to have your teeth cleaned or flossed, dental emergencies require immediate attention and cannot be put off for much longer.
Dental emergencies typically involve a serious injury to the mouth, teeth, or gums. Some common signs that you need to seek emergency care include severe pain or bleeding in the mouth, loose adult or permanent teeth, and swelling, foul smells, or other signs of mouth infection. Should you experience any one of these symptoms, it is best to head to a dentist right away. Any emergency dentist in larger cities like Salt Lake City, Utah, are trained on what to do in such cases.
Here are some of the circumstances that might warrant immediate dental care and attention:
You bit on some food too hard
If you bite too hard on a piece of food, or if the piece of food you bit into is tough and hard in the first place, this can cause significant damage to your tooth. If your tooth ends up breaking or coming off, then it is important that you head to a dentist straight away.
This particularly applies if the tooth that was damaged is a permanent tooth. Damage to permanent teeth can cause profuse bleeding, and might even damage some nerves and blood vessels in the mouth. Furthermore, it is important that the tooth is immediately replaced, which is what a dentist can easily help with.
You suffered a sports-related injury
Children and adults who are involved in sports are always at risk of hitting their head and sustaining injuries to their mouth, gums, and teeth. This is especially true for those who are in physical, high-contact sports such as football, boxing, or wrestling. Even with the presence of mouth guards and other safety equipment, the chance of being struck hard enough in the right place is always there.
Such injuries can lead to the tooth being broken or knocked out from its socket. When this occurs, it is important to handle the tooth as little as possible in order to prevent infections. Given that there are complications that may arise from such conditions, it is important to always consult a dentist as soon as the injury occurs.
You were in an accident
Aside from the injuries and damage that you can sustain all over your body, if you are in an accident, it is very likely that you will have tooth damage as well, especially given that your mouth is one of the least protected areas in your body. Hence, accidents that can cause serious bodily harm can definitely also cause dental damage.
However, it does not take a fatal accident to cause damage that warrants emergency dental care. Even something as simple as a fall can result in broken teeth, especially if it was done face first. As a result, it is best to always be careful in order to spare yourself the pain and hassle that a dental emergency can cause.
