The Importance of Seeing a Dentist When You Have an Oral Health Emergency

Most people disregard oral pain, like toothaches, but this condition is considered a dental emergency. The other types of oral emergencies include bleeding and facial trauma that should be immediately attended to by a dentist. While a medical practitioner can also help, most especially for jaw fractures and other types of facial trauma, seeking a dentist should still be done to ensure maximum oral integrity and health.

In this post, you’ll learn the important benefits of seeing a dentist for oral health emergency cases.

Reduce Risk of Spreading Infection

One of the most common reasons people visit a dentist is because of pain or toothache. It can be caused by too hot or too cold drinks or food. Also, a painful tooth is triggered by heavy grinding or biting, and falling out of filling. Ignoring pain may cause infection, and your blood vessels and nerves could be damaged.

Here are the benefits of seeking a dentist when you have a toothache:

  • A dentist is equipped with the right knowledge, skills, and tools or equipment to identify the main source of pain or infection. A weekend dentist has many options when dealing with dental emergencies to prevent the spread of infection, such as antibiotic treatment, advanced pain management, and teeth restoration.
  • Stop the spread of infection to the neck and head. In addition, it prevents life-threatening medical conditions associated with oral infection, such as Lemierre’s syndrome. This rare septic condition usually requires intensive care, which causes an infection of the major blood vessels on the neck and metastatic abscesses in the brain or lungs.

Save Injured or Damaged Teeth

Anything that hurts is considered a dental emergency because even small injuries can affect the tissues inside your tooth, which causes more complicated problems in the future. Seeking immediate treatment improves the odds of saving injured or damaged teeth.

Enamel fractures do not usually require emergency care. However, dental attention must be sought because any severe injury affecting the dentine must be treated immediately to avoid infection. Your dentist will perform emergency care like placing a suitable dentine lining material to the fractured dentine.

Here are examples of oral conditions requiring immediate dental intervention:

  • Fractures or chips of a tooth, or any obvious damage on your oral cavity
  • Lost crown or filling because of the lack of support exposing your tooth to injury
  • Crumbling or breaking off of the tooth, which requires extensive dental treatment

Proper Pain Management

You probably tried everything to reduce the pain or toothache you feel, such as brushing too hard until your gums bleed, using dental floss to get rid of particles in between teeth, and rinsing with a strong mouthwash. However, these actions can cause more harm and pain than good to your oral cavity. It’s better to visit a dentist right away than attempting to treat yourself or doing self-medication.

Here are the types of  dental pain and interventions:

  • Pulpal Pain: It is described as spontaneous, throbbing, and intense, radiating to the ipsilateral ear, cheek, or temple, that is exacerbated by temperature. Your dentist would perform a root canal treatment or endodontics or tooth extraction.
  • Periapical Periodontitis: This severe and spontaneous pain persists for hours. It is well localized and often exacerbated by biting. Also, the gum is tender to palpation and an abscess may form along with fever, facial swelling, and illness. Immediate dental attention is required for the incision and drainage of the abscess, and prescription of antimicrobials (like amoxicillin) and pain relievers or analgesics.

Treat Bleeding

Oral bleeding can result from gingivitis or trauma, and prolonged bleeding is considered a bleeding tendency. Trauma cases include facial fractures due to slip or fall accidents. Most of the trauma cases require admission to the hospital. Collaboration with a dentist is still required with these trauma cases.

Here are the possible treatments a dentist will carry out for treating bleeding tendencies:

  • If a socket continuously bleeds after tooth extraction, a gauze pad is laid across the socket, and you’ll be asked to bite on it for about 15-30 minutes.
  • Homeostatic agent, like Surgicel, will be prescribed if bleeding continues.
  • The last option is suturing the socket.

Conclusion

Seeking dental treatment is essential when you feel pain, experience bleeding, injury, or trauma involving the oral cavity. A dentist can perform dental surgeries, like tooth extraction and incision and drainage, and minor or major dental interventions to help you reduce or eliminate the pain you’re experiencing. Also, your dentist can prescribe antibiotics and analgesics to maintain dental health.