What counts as a dental emergency
A tooth knocked out or knocked loose. A tooth broken with pain or a sharp edge cutting your tongue. Swelling in the gum, jaw or face. Bleeding that will not stop. Pain bad enough to keep you awake or to stop you eating.
A lost filling or crown is not usually urgent on its own, but it becomes urgent once the tooth underneath starts to hurt.
Go to hospital, not to us
Some things are not dental problems, they are medical ones. Go to an emergency room rather than calling a dentist if there is swelling that is affecting your breathing or your ability to swallow, if you have had a blow to the head, or if bleeding will not stop with pressure.
Swelling that is spreading, or a fever alongside dental pain, needs to be seen the same day wherever you go.
A tooth that has been knocked out
Pick it up by the crown, the part you normally see. Do not touch the root and do not scrub it, even if it is dirty. Rinse it gently in milk or clean water for no more than a few seconds.
If you can, put it back in the socket and bite gently on a clean cloth to hold it. If you cannot, keep it in a cup of milk, or in your own saliva. Do not let it dry out. Time matters more than anything else here, so call while you are doing it.
A broken tooth, bleeding, or swelling
For a broken tooth, rinse your mouth with warm water and hold a cold compress against your face to keep the swelling down. Keep any pieces.
For bleeding, press a clean piece of gauze or a folded cloth against the site and hold it there without checking every few seconds.
For swelling, do not put heat on it. Heat spreads an infection rather than settling it.
Getting seen
Call 410-284-1414 and say it is an emergency. The office is open Mon – Fri, 8 AM – 5 PM.
If you are in pain outside those hours and it cannot wait, an urgent care centre or a hospital emergency room can manage the pain and the infection until a dentist can see you.
