Posts Tagged ‘dental emergency’

The DO’s and DONT’s of Dental Emergencies

Posted on: November 15th, 2011 by Nicholas Geller, DDS No Comments

Broken Denture or Bridge

DO:

  • Save all pieces.
  • If possible, keep denture or bridge in your mouth.
  • Call your dentist during office hours.

DON’T:

  • Don’t try to repair it yourself with ‘super glue’ or by other means.  This can permanently ruin your denture or bridge.

Loose or Lost Crown

DO:

  • Keep crown in safe place.
  • Call the dentist during office hours
  • Toothpaste or denture adhesive may be use to temporarily cement crown back on tooth if unable to see a dentist right away, and only if you are able to seat it properly on tooth.

DON’T:

  • Eat hard, sticky or chewy foods in area of the crown.
  • Don’t attempt to cement crown back on with ‘super glue’ or anything other than toothpaste or denture adhesive.

Bleeding Gums

DO:

  • Rinse your mouth four times a day with one-half teaspoon of salt in four ounces of warm water
  • Brush and floss even if bleeding continues
  • Call your dentist during office hours

DON’T:

  • Don’t prolong seeing your dentist.  This may be a sign of gum disease, which is correctable at early stages.

Canker Sore

DO:

  • Place a topical ointment such as ‘Orabase’ or ‘Orajel’ for temporary relief.
  • If many sores present, rinse with a mixture of 1/2 benadryl elixer, 1/2 kaopectate.
  • Call your dentist if the sore persists over 10 days.

DON’T:

  • Never place aspirin directly on the sore.
  • Don’t expect complete healing for 7-10 days.

Toothache, Broken Filling or Tooth

DO:

  • If painful, take acetaminophen (Tylenol), ibuprofen (advil or motrin), or aspirin.
  • If mild or no pain, call dentist during office hours.
  • If pain is severe or swelling is apparent, call the dentist as soon as possible.

DON’T:

  • Don’t eat hard, sticky or sweet foods.
  • Stay away from very hot or cold food and drink.
  • Don’t place heat on the area.
  • Never place aspirin on or near tooth.

Jaw Stiffness or Pain

DO:

  • Take ibuprofen (advil or motrin) or naproxen (aleve).
  • Alternate moist heat (warm washcloth or hot water bottle) for 20 minutes with cold (ice pack) for 20 minutes.
  • Call the dentist during office hours

DON’T:

  • Don’t stress your jaw joint by chewing hard or sticky foods including ice and gum.
  • Don’t ignore this- it may be a symptom of TMJ disorder, which is treatable by the dentist.

Wisdom Tooth Pain

DO:

  • Keep the area clean by brushing and flossing properly.
  • Take acetaminophen (tylenol), ibuprofen (advil or motrin), or aspirin.
  • Call the dentist during office hours

DON’T:

  • Never place aspirin on or near tooth.
  • Don’t procrastinate calling the dentist

Chipped Baby Tooth

DO:

  • If painful, give the child baby tylenol.
  • If swollen, place ice on the area (20 minutes on, 20 minutes off.
  • If mild or no pain, call the dentist during office hours.
  • For severe pain, call the dentist as soon as possible.

DON’T:

  • Don’t place heat on the area.
  • Don’t eat sweet foods or eat or drink anything very hot or cold.
  • Don’t panic, there is usually no damage to the permanent teeth.

Teething Pain

DO:

  • The following usually helps: cold objects (i.e. cold teething ring), teething ointment, firm finger massage.

DON’T:

  • Don’t leave unsafe objects wear baby can get them; your baby may want to chew on them.

How To Deal With Dental Emergencies While Traveling

Posted on: October 11th, 2011 by Nicholas Geller, DDS No Comments

Are you planning a vacation outside the U.S.? Don’t have your vacation ruined by a toothache. Prior to traveling abroad a thorough dental examination is important especially if traveling to developing countries or remote areas without access to safe dental care.

Emergency dental care abroad may be hard to find, uncomfortable, expensive, or even dangerous. Most of us take for granted the high U.S. standards for infection control and safety. We seldom think about the fact that sterile instruments, gloves, disposable needles and safe water are not always routine in parts of the world. Dentists practicing in the U.S. are held to high standards of care and must follow infection control guidelines for disease prevention. The standards for educating and licensing dental professionals also vary in foreign countries. In the U.S., dentists have been educated in accredited schools and have taken national and state boards prior to receiving a license to practice.

Before you travel…
Schedule an appointment with your dentist giving adequate time to complete any necessary dental treatment. Pressure changes especially during air travel can cause pain in an untreated tooth.

  • Have decayed or cracked teeth treated
  • Congested with sinus problems? It may be from or affecting your teeth
  • Schedule a cleaning, especially if you have any type of periodontal (gum) disease or bad breath
  • Sensitive teeth should be checked before you travel
  • Complete all root canal treatments

Seeking safe emergency dental care while you’re traveling…
Along with your passport, carry travel information including names and phone numbers of organizations to contact in case of a dental or medical emergency. Some good sources to contact in an emergency are:

  • A local hotel concierge.
  • Americans living in the area or American military personnel.
  • The International Assoc. For Medical Assistance To Travelers — a network of doctors and medical institutions around the world – (www.iamat.org) (716) 754-4883.
  • American Consulate or American Embassy in the country you are visiting.
  • In Europe – American Dental Society of Europe (ADSE) (www.adse.co.uk) Phone: 011 44 141 331 0088.

To obtain A Traveler’s Guide To Safe Dental Care visit The Organization For Safety and Asepsis Procedures (www.osap.org)

Traveling in the US?

- First step, call your dentist, they may have some words of advice for your particular problem. Also, depending on your circumstances they may be able to call in a prescription if necessary or direct you to a nearby facility to help you.

- If your dentist is unavailable and you’re at a hotel, utilize your concierge or front desk staff. Often times they will have a list of people in the area that they have on call for emergency medical and dental situations.

- If neither options are available, contact the local hospital. Mostly likely a dentist or oral surgeon will be on call to help you with your emergency.

Traveling out of the Country?

- As previously mentioned, contact your dentist immediately. Unfortunately, he/she will not be able to prescribe you any medications overseas but may be able to give you advice on how to proceed.  Also, check-in with your concierge for local resources as you would in the U.S.

- If you don’t feel comfortable with your hotel’s concierge or don’t have a great grasp of the language and resources available to accomodate you, you may want to contact services at the U.S. Embassy.  They may be able to put you in touch with medical services and help with transferring funds from the U.S.

- We also advise you contact your insurance company before a trip abroad to see if there are any policies about coverage outside of the country.

Don’t let a dental emergency dampen your vacation. Be sure to have your teeth in great shape prior to leaving home.

Source: Dear Doctor

When to Call the Dentist, When to Go to the Emergency Room

Posted on: September 13th, 2011 by Nicholas Geller, DDS No Comments

Your child just fell riding his bicycle. There is lots of blood. His mouth is a mess. Who do you call? What do you do? Children will find a way to injure themselves despite our best preventive measures as parents. Some orofacial injuries are serious and some are nothing to worry about. How do you tell? Well, here are some guidelines.

If there is lots of blood, don’t panic. Any injury to the mouth bleeds a lot. Check out the situation; hold a cloth (if you can) with pressure to slow the bleeding. Most bleeding stops within 10 -15 minutes whether you do anything or not. Once your heart stops racing so much and the child is not in such a state, look and see what the problem is. First look and see if there are facial cuts or lacerations, fear of a broken jaw, possible head trauma causing loss of consciousness (concussion), multiple knocked out and displaced teeth (an oral surgeon may need to see you at the hospital), or if you just are not too sure, then you need to go to the ER. They can stitch up any facial lacerations and take major X-Rays to check all that other stuff.

Now, if you don’t have those bad things, you still might have a scary mess to deal with. If you go to the ER, you are likely to sit there for two hours and then they will call your dentist anyway. You can call your dentist first and he may be able to save you the trip to the ER.

*If a young child has hit his mouth, there is lots of blood especially on his upper teeth lip area, look and see if it might just be a torn maxillary frenum. That’s the little piece of tissue that connects the upper lip to the gum between the two front teeth. If it was tight and gets hit and stretched too much it will tear. It bleeds a lot at first, but will likely be fine after 20 minutes or so. Usually no stitches are necessary. In fact there may be no treatment needed at all. This is a very common injury in preschoolers.

If there is a broken tooth, the ER is not likely to be able to do much. If a tooth is knocked out, and if it is a permanent tooth, you need to get the tooth back in soon as possible, your dentist can help. The ER can put a knocked out tooth back in too, but you still may need a dentist to splint the tooth, so you may want to call the dentist first. If the knocked out tooth is a baby tooth, just leave it out and put it under their pillow. A baby tooth can be intruded (pushed up into the gums) where is is difficult to see. Sometimes it can re-erupt on it’s own, but still may need to be removed or need other longer term treatments. If your child is in braces and a wire breaks, etc., call your pediatric dentist or orthodontist.