EMERGENCY DENTISTRY
EMERGENCY
DENTISTRY SYDNEY
Pain
is one of the main reasons people go to the dentist. A painful
tooth can be triggered by hot or cold food and drinks. Heavy
biting or grinding may fracture a tooth and cause the tooth
to hurt when you chew. Sometimes, when a filling falls out,
you may have a throbbing ache.
Any injury to teeth or gums can be serious and should not be
ignored. Injury can damage nerves or blood vessels. There is
also a risk of getting an infection, which can become life threatening.
If you ignore dental pain or dental injury, you're taking a
chance. You should not delay getting treatment. Delays in treatment
can be dangerous to your health. Getting injured teeth repaired
and treated quickly is the best thing to do.
Today, dentists have many options for dealing with dental emergencies.
Now you can benefit from advances in pain management and techniques
to restore teeth. Teeth can be repaired with synthetic materials
that are strong and look as good as your natural teeth. Our
All Day All Night Dentist has the training and skills to identify
how serious the problem is, and will almost always, reduce or
eliminate pain within a few minutes.
If you're not
sure if a dental problem is an emergency, our dentist offer
this advice: If it hurts, it's an emergency. This is because
even injuries that seem small or superficial can affect the
living tissues inside the teeth. Quick treatment improves the
odds of saving injured or damaged teeth.
Even if you aren't in much pain, any structural damage to a
tooth, from a sports injury, for example should be considered
an emergency. Chips or fractures can affect the living tissue
inside the tooth, causing more problems in the future. Your
dentist can prevent the damage from getting worse.
The same is true of a lost filling or crown. Even if you don't
have any symptoms, the tooth has lost its support and it could
easily become weaker. Pieces could break off or crumble, and
you would need more extensive treatment. If you see our dentist
right away, there's a good chance that our All Day All Night
Dentist will be able to repair the damage with minimal treatment.
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DENTAL
EMERGENCY PROCEDURES -
CAN HELP SAVE A TOOTH
Handling a dental emergency can be tricky when you or a loved
one is in pain, but a quick and appropriate reaction can help
save a tooth in danger. The Australian Dental Association recommends
that you become familiar with these dental emergency procedures
just in case you ever have a dental emergency.
If a tooth is knocked out, hold the tooth by the crown and rinse
the root in water if it's dirty. Do NOT scrub it or remove any
attached tissue fragments. If you can, gently place the tooth
back in its socket or store it in a cup of milk and head for
the All Day All Night Dentist (with the tooth) immediately.
If you break a tooth, rinse your mouth with warm water to keep
the area clean and apply cold compresses on your face to reduce
swelling. Go to the All Day All Night Dentist immediately.
Treat a bitten tongue or lip by cleaning gently with a cloth
and applying cold compresses to reduce swelling. If bleeding
is heavy or doesn't stop after a short time, seek immediate
treatment from your All Day All Night Dentist or emergency room.
If a toothache is getting you down, rinse your mouth with warm
water, gently floss to remove food that may be trapped around
it and see your All Day All Night Dentist as soon as possible.
Do NOT apply aspirin to the tooth or gum tissues.
A jaw injury or possible fracture needs immediate attention
at your All Day All Night Dentist's office or the emergency
room. Apply cold compresses on the way to reduce swelling.
If a loose or broken wire from your braces is irritating your
mouth, cover the wire end with a small cotton ball, beeswax
or a piece of gauze until you can get to the All Day All Night
Dentist. Seek immediate treatment if a wire gets stuck in the
cheek, tongue or gum tissue, but don't try to pull it out yourself.
If you have a dental emergency while you are travelling, check
the yellow pages under "dentist" for the number of
the state or local dental society; the society will be able
to refer you to a nearby dentist. Or, visit the local emergency
room and ask for a dentist referral.
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SPORTS
SAFETY: AVOIDING TOOTH & MOUTH INJURIES
A few years ago,
a dental journal called Australian Dental Association News published
an article that described what seemed like an unusual case:
A child had suffered serious dental injuries after snagging
his teeth on a basketball net while doing a slam-dunk.
A freak accident? Not quite. After the article appeared, nearly
40 dentists wrote in with their own stories about would-be Michael
Jordans who sacrificed their front teeth in pursuit of the
perfect dunk.
In older children and adults, sports injuries are common. Dentists
estimate that between 13% and 39% of dental injuries occur while
playing sports.
The front teeth suffer the most. About 80% of all dental injuries
affect one or more of the front teeth. Soft tissue damage
from biting the tongue or cheek, for example also is common.
Basic
Protection
Dental injuries aren't always permanent.
Even if a tooth has been knocked out completely, it often can
be saved if you get to a dentist quickly enough. In addition,
minor chips and cracks can be repaired with "invisible"
materials that are nearly as strong as the original tooth.
However, even "minor" mishaps can cause significant,
and expensive, damage. If you enjoy sports or other high-risk
activities, it's worth investing in some protection. The use
of mouth guards among football players, for example, is believed
to prevent about 200,000 oral injuries a year.
There
are two types of protection to choose from:
Helmets
If you enjoy any type of activity
that involves speed or impact such as playing football, skating
or riding a bike or a scooter a helmet is a must. Forget hand-me-downs;
if the helmet doesn't fit correctly or is not appropriate for
particular sports, it may be too uncomfortable to wear.
Mouth guards
As many male and female student and adult athletes
have discovered, wearing a mouth guard is one of the best ways
to prevent a sudden trip to the dentist.
Some ready-to-wear, U-shaped mouth guards, made from rubber
or vinyl materials, are available to purchase over-the-counter
in many sporting goods stores. However, they generally do not
fit well and, as a result, do not evenly distribute the force
of an impact. Dr. Phillip F. Ajaje recommends that you avoid
using these type of mouth guards and suggests going to a dentist
to have a custom-fitted mouth guard made to fit comfortably
in your mouth and offer better protection.
If having a mouth guard custom-fit by a dentist isn't an option,
then an alternative could be a "boil-and-bite" mouth
guard. These mouth guards are made from a type of plastic that
softens in boiling water. You place the mouth guard in boiling
water, and once the plastic is soft, you put it into your mouth,
bite down on it, and mold the softened plastic around your teeth
using your fingers, lips and tongue. Be careful not to scald
yourself when removing the mouth guard from the boiling water,
and make sure that it isn't too hot to put into your mouth.
If the mouht guard doesn't fit comfortably the first time, you
can reheat it and do it again. These "boil-and-bite"
mouth guards are available in many sporting goods stores.
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