Emergency Dentistry – San Marcos
A broken tooth or jaw pain can ruin your day. Our emergency dentist in San Marcos, California, helps patients with their dental emergencies every day. So whether it’s a chipped tooth, a loose crown, a broken filling, or a bad toothache we can help. For emergency dentistry near San Marcos, you’ve come to the right place. Call us now.
Tele-Dentistry Available
Sometimes it may not be easy to visit an emergency dentist near you. That’s why we offer teledentistry and online consultations. And we can usually see emergency dental patients on the same day or within 24 hours if an office visit is necessary.
Home Remedies For Dental Emergencies
What do you do when you need emergency dentistry in San Marcos? Do you have a plan of action? Most people don’t. So here are some simple steps you can take which can help you deal with your emergency dentistry needs ’til you are seen.
- Try your best not to panic. It doesn’t help much.
- If you knocked something out of your mouth, save it in a wet piece of cloth and place it in a zip lock bag. In the event that an entire tooth (or a big piece of it) falls out, place it in a cup of milk.
- For pain, you can use cold ice bags over the affected area. And you can also take over-the-counter pain medication, so long as you’re not allergic of course.
- Since most people won’t want to eat much because of the pain, they end up getting weaker. As a result, they don’t heal as fast. And they can get sick easier too, like catching a cold. So it’s important to get the necessary calories and nutrients to keep functioning. There are protein shakes and other healthy drinks that can replace solid foods for a little while at least.
- For additional natural home remedies, there is an excellent article that can be found on the web at Healthline.com. It is titled 10 Home and Natural Remedies for Toothache Pain.
Urgent Dental Conditions
Below are some examples of emergency dentistry that we can help you with.
Toothache
Cavities are a common cause of toothaches. And when a small cavity is not repaired, further damage results. Toothaches don’t come out without warnings. They usually start out by causing occasional sensitivity, pain, or discomfort while the problem is relatively small. As the problem gets bigger, the symptoms become more severe. Call us now if you have a toothache at (760) 510-9009.
Broken or Chipped Tooth
Occasionally a tooth can chip or suffer a breakage. Simple things like eating food and accidentally biting down on a fork or piece of bone can chip or crack teeth. Depending on the extent of the damage, our dentist can fix chipped or broken teeth in many ways.
Loose or Knocked-Out Tooth
In cases of severe trauma, a tooth may become partially or totally dislodged or become very loose. Our dentist can help treat these painful emergencies and the faster the treatment, the better the outcome. Here are some things that you can do immediately though in these situations.
- If the tooth is partially out, see if you can gently push it back into its place. If it has just become loose, with your tongue and finger pressure put it where it feels it usually sits. And obviously, avoid biting on the tooth.
- If the trauma has completely dislodged the tooth, gently rinse off any dirt or foreign debris and see if you can put it back into the socket. If not, place it in a glass of milk as you contact us for an appointment. Even if you are able to place the tooth back successfully, you should see us in order to help stabilize the tooth. This can make for faster more effective healing.
Pain or Bleeding Gums
When it comes to dental health, healthy gums are just as important as healthy teeth. However, they are 2 separate organs and can suffer from different diseases. Bleeding gums often indicate some form of gum disease ranging from Gingivitis to severe Periodontitis.
Gums can become tender, painful, and swollen if not cleaned regularly and properly. Oftentimes they smell really foul, causing bad breath. Sometimes the root of a tooth has a cavity which can cause gum pain. Our dentist is trained to diagnose and treat bleeding and painful gums quickly and effectively.
Abscessed or Infected Tooth – Life-Threatening
A dental abscess or infection is a life-threatening situation if ignored. When a tooth is infected, the bacteria start entering the body’s blood supply and circulatory system. This often leads to the patient developing a fever and becoming ill. The build-up of bacteria around the tooth leads to swelling which is an accumulation of pus. As the swelling gets more severe, it starts invading surrounding tissues and organs. Abscessed teeth need immediate attention and treatment. Contact us immediately or go to the emergency room.
Broken or Loose Crown, Veneer or Bridge
Sometimes a crown may fracture or come loose. The same thing can happen to a veneer or a bridge. If the fractured crown is sharp to the cheeks or the tongue, you need to be seen to alleviate this condition. Depending on the extent of the damage you may need a new crown. But at times the old crown or veneer can be repaired.
In the case of a crown that has gotten loose, save it and call our emergency dentist. Our dentist may be able to re-bond the crown to the tooth. Avoid biting down and chewing with that part of the mouth if painful ’til you can be seen.
Jaw Pain
Jaw pain is quite annoying. It can be dull or sharp, constant or sporadic, lasting from minutes to hours or days. An infected tooth, an impacted or broken tooth, bone fracture or breakage, excessive pressure from muscles, and problems with the jaw joints can all result in jaw pain. The pain experienced by the patient ranges from annoyance to severe and even debilitating levels.
Our emergency dentist can help diagnose and treat jaw pain by accurately identifying the reason behind the symptoms.
Jaw Stuck Open or Closed
How can your jaw get stuck open? Imagine going to yawn and then not being able to close your mouth afterward. What happens when your jaw gets stuck closed. Imagine wanting to take a bite out of a sandwich but not being able to because you cannot open it sufficiently. These conditions can be quite painful and often are quite alarming as you can see. For obvious reasons, the stuck open position is very discomforting.
- If you experience this condition first sit down in a comfortable place. Try massaging the muscles around the jaw joints. This is often effective in helping alleviate this condition.
- Another good trick (that may be a bit crude) is to stick your finger down your throat to try to make yourself gag. The gag reflex is sometimes enough to help the jaw slip back to its normal position.
These types of jaw symptoms indicate a problem with the jaw joints and the muscles of the head and neck. Our emergency dentist has extensive training in dealing specifically with these types of problems.
Broken Dentures
People oftentimes take their teeth for granted, ’til they’re gone. And if you have no teeth and use complete dentures, broken dentures mean an immediate loss of ability to eat, speak, and pretty much function normally. We don’t recommend using over-the-counter remedies to fix broken dentures as we usually get to see them after that effort fails. Plus, they make the repair even more difficult. We help denture patients fix their broken dentures or replace them if necessary.
Orthodontic Emergencies
Broken brackets, broken retainers, and loose orthodontic wires are only some of the orthodontic emergencies we see. Unfortunately, there isn’t much you can do other than apply wax to the affected area and call the dentist.
We have just listed some of the more common dental emergencies. No matter what your case, we can help. Contact us and get your urgent condition under control.