If you are experiencing a dental emergency, the best place you can go unless you are dealing with a life-threatening complication is to go straight to the dentist. We place patients who are experiencing a dental emergency at the top of our priority list, as prompt treatment is crucial to prevent complications and worsening pain.
Once you arrive, we will try to accommodate you as soon as possible. Your appointment will start with an examination along with you giving us the details of your discomfort and if you are aware of the cause. We may need to take x-rays to look for signs of an infection, tooth decay, or problems with the eruption of wisdom teeth.
After determining the root cause of the problem, we will focus on pain relief. We have access to highly powerful numbing, sedative, and pain-relief agents. We may inject you with a local anesthetic so you don’t feel any more pain during the appointment and so we can focus on treatment.
Antibiotics may be prescribed as well as additional pain medication if necessary. During this appointment, we can begin to treat the problem or create temporary fixes but you may need to return for future appointments to complete the treatment.
If you have an infection, we can perform a pulpectomy where we will remove the infected dental pulp and that should relieve your pain and discomfort. We will still, however, need to clean your canals and refill the tooth which takes multiple appointments.
For broken, chipped, or damaged teeth, we may need to fabricate crowns or other tooth restorations which require the cooperation of an outside dental lab, waiting periods, and multiple appointments.
We can, however, place temporary tooth restorations while you wait for your official restoration. We will send you home with aftercare instructions on how to manage pain and prevent worsening the problem until your treatment is complete.