Few types of pain and discomfort hit quite as hard as dental pain. When a dental emergency occurs, it’s often best to get it checked out quickly. The longer you wait to get it looked at, the worse the condition will get and the higher the risk to your health. Finding a reliable dentist that handles dental emergencies in your area is vital to prevent infection and further damage to your teeth.

But what exactly is a dental emergency? First, it’s essential to know the differences between everyday dental issues and emergency ones that can’t wait. A typical dental problem is manageable until the following morning, while an emergency can threaten your well-being and health. So let’s go over some vital information that will help determine whether a dental issue can wait or requires emergency dentistry.

What Are Some Emergency Dental Situations?

The most common dental emergencies involve infections and damage to teeth. These can often occur due to tooth decay, physical damage from outside sources, or other health issues.

Ask the following questions to help determine whether a dental situation is an emergency or can wait a few days:

• How severe is the pain? Bleeding and severe pain are signs of emergencies.
• Has a tooth come loose? Adult teeth should never come out. However, if a tooth is loose or has come out, seek dental care immediately.
• Tooth fall out? Quick response time and treatment can save the tooth when the tooth has come out.
• Is there a noticeable infection? Signs of infection include abscesses, foul smells, and bleeding.
• Is there blood coming from the mouth? Bleeding from the mouth is the most significant sign of a potential dental emergency.

Generally speaking, any dental situation involving bleeding, severe pain, or potential tooth loss will be considered a dental emergency. Seeing a dentist right away can help reduce the risk to your health and potentially save teeth.

What Are Some Common Dental Emergencies?

A few issues can come up that won’t be considered dental emergencies by dentists. The following is a quick listing of the dental emergencies most commonly seen in emergency dentistry.

Unexplained Toothaches

Toothaches don’t just cause frustration. They are also a way for your body to signal something is wrong. When a sudden toothache occurs, it is typically due to food or debris contacting an exposed nerve or cavity. A cold compress, salt water rinse, or over-the-counter pain medications can help alleviate pain.

Swollen or Bleeding Gums

Occasional gum bleeds may not be a big issue. Still, constant bleeding from the gums is a significant sign something is wrong.

Swollen Mouth or Jaw

Seek immediate treatment if swelling exists in the jaw or mouth. There could be an infection, lymph node irritation, or another factor.

Nerve Exposure

Many people have rated an infected nerve as one of the most potent pain experiences. Seeking dental help as soon as possible is vital to save the tooth.

Loss of Teeth

Tooth loss is not uncommon in adults. In most cases, a dentist can quickly fix tooth loss. However, if a tooth comes out unexpectedly, seeking dental care is necessary.

Loss of a Filling

When a filling comes out, it will re-expose the cavity. Re-exposure to the cavity can put the nerve of the tooth at risk. It also puts the strength of the tooth at risk.

Damaged Crown

A broken or damaged crown will leave the tooth exposed and vulnerable. An exposed tooth is terrible because the tooth under the crown is no longer as strong as it used to be. The crown itself protects the nerve inside the tooth and the remaining tooth structure.

Abscess in Gums or Tooth

Dental abscesses can be a difficult and life-threatening situation to go through. They are pockets of pus in the tooth that lead to an infection. In addition, an abscess can cause fever, temperature sensitivity, tooth pain, swelling, and a lump on your gums near the tooth.

Food or Objects Lodged Between Teeth

Food and debris from eating can often get stuck between teeth without us realizing it. Sometimes brushing and flossing won’t be enough to dislodge it. If the object remains, it can cause teeth to shift, gum irritation, gum disease, infection, and tooth decay.

Finding an Emergency Dentist Nearby

A primary dental care provider will most likely have dental emergency services for most patients. However, it’s always good to know if a dentist provides emergency services or not. While most dentists would prefer you wait and see them, finding a local emergency dental care office beforehand can be a better plan.

Cosmetic dentistry improves a person’s appearance, but it goes much further than that. Using a variety of techniques, dentists alter a person’s smile to provide a variety of benefits. The methods may involve the use of dental veneers, inlays, dental implants, and more, as each patient receives a customized treatment plan that addresses their unique needs.

What many people don’t realize is the treatment goes beyond the superficial. For example, while white teeth have no impact on a person’s ability to chew their food, they can look and feel better. This serves as only one example of why a person should consider cosmetic dental treatment if they aren’t happy with their smile. So what are some benefits of cosmetic dentistry?

Improved Appearance

As previously mentioned, one of the benefits of cosmetic dentistry is an improved appearance. When a person feels good about how they look, it shows in everything they do. Their interactions with others change for the better, and they have the opportunity to make an excellent first impression. They will no longer hide their smile or shy away from meeting new people if they love how they look. Cosmetic dentistry can provide the smile they have always desired.

What many people don’t realize is cosmetic dentistry helps make a person look younger. Although it isn’t the fountain of youth people have been seeking for centuries, it can alter their appearance in a positive way. When they look younger, they feel more youthful.

Improved Diet

If a person has dental issues, they might find it hard to eat a variety of foods. For example, chewing certain foods becomes challenging when one or more teeth are missing. The same holds when a person’s bite is uneven, and they cannot chew properly. This inability interferes with their digestion of foods. While a dental issue may seem like a minor inconvenience, this isn’t always the case. A dentist may use inlays, onlays, or another cosmetic dental treatment to strengthen the bite and improve the person’s ability to chew. As a result, their diet could improve significantly.

Improved Finances

Men and women find they save money by having cosmetic work done to their teeth. Specifically, the dentist takes steps to correct crowded teeth or those with cracks and chips to prevent future damage that would be costly in the long run.

For example, a dental implant protects the bone and gum tissue from erosion and ensures adjacent teeth don’t shift. Any change in the bone and gum tissue or shifting of the teeth could lead to expensive dental treatments in the future. Therefore, the dental implant serves as preventative care rather than a cosmetic treatment.

Furthermore, a confident smile improves your job prospects. When a person smiles, they leave a positive impression. The employer views you as confident and ready to tackle the job. It builds trust, which is of importance to employers. They want people who represent their company in a positive light and draw in customers. A healthy smile helps a person do precisely that.

Self-Confidence

A person’s self-confidence or lack of self-esteem affects every area of their life. When a person has a healthy, beautiful smile, they share it with others. As a result, their relationships improve, and they feel confident interacting with strangers. They no longer hide from people simply because they worry about how their smile makes them look.

Consider cosmetic dentistry to transform your smile. When you see the return on investment, you’ll wish you had taken this step sooner. It’s never too late to start, so make your appointment today.

Missing teeth make a person’s smile look less attractive and can cause problems with chewing and speech. When someone is missing one or more teeth, the appearance of their smile can negatively affect every area of their life. Thankfully, some solutions offer tooth replacement. Learning what dental implants are will help individuals discover how they can replace their missing teeth permanently.

What Is a Dental Implant?

When a tooth is missing in the mouth, the socket is left empty. A dental professional will insert a dental implant in this empty socket. Dental implants are titanium tooth root replacements. They permanently and securely hold a crown, allowing individuals to smile with confidence and enjoy eating a wide array of foods.

Dental implants are made of titanium because it is the only metal that will bond with human bone tissue. Once implanted, the body begins to grow new bone cells around the titanium implant. As the bone cells multiply, the dental implant becomes a permanent part of the jaw, acting just as a human tooth root.

What Causes Missing Teeth?

People of all ages can experience problems with missing teeth. Understanding the reasons a person may lose their teeth or be missing certain teeth is essential. The following are some of these reasons.

• Tooth decay is one of the primary reasons for a tooth to go missing. Decay eats away at a tooth. Eventually, the tooth can begin to loosen and fall out. Dental professionals extract teeth when they become severely decayed.
• Another reason a person may be missing a tooth is injuries. Blunt force trauma to the mouth can sometimes knock teeth out or break them.
• Sometimes, a person is born with a genetic condition that causes some teeth not to grow. This genetic condition is called ectodermal dysplasia, and it can affect the way a person’s smile forms.

What to Expect From the Procedure?

This dental implant procedure takes a couple or more dental visits and requires a surgical procedure. First, the dentist draws up a treatment plan that addresses the unique needs of the patient. The next step in the process is the implantation of the titanium post.

A dental professional implants a small titanium post into the jawbone where the tooth is missing. The implant will be given time to bond with the bone tissue, typically taking around twelve weeks. The next part of the process involves opening the gum tissue and adding an abutment. The abutment is essential for holding the crown in place.

Before the dentist places the crown, they will take X-rays and make impressions of the patient’s mouth. The goal is to achieve a perfect fit and ensure the new implant and crown blend well with the patient’s surrounding teeth.

Some patients opt to have an attachment placed on their implant rod. Dentists use these attachments to anchor denture plates. Unlike traditional dentures, these denture plates stay in place securely and offer superior chewing ability.

Schedule a Consultation

The first step in learning about the advantages of dental implants is to schedule a consultation appointment with the dentist. Through an examination, the dentist will discover if the patient is a good candidate for dental implants and then start designing the treatment plan.

Scientific studies, like this one on implants, indicate dental implants can last a lifetime. Once in place, the titanium rod never needs to be removed, and it will not fall out. With the addition of the dental crown, a dentist rejuvenates a person’s smile, allowing them to feel confident in smiling again and ensuring they can eat the foods they love.