Uptown Dental Centre is your emergency dentist in downtown Edmonton when you need it. When an unexpected dental trauma or infection occurs, you likely won’t need to question whether you need an emergency appointment or not – in most cases, you will be too uncomfortable not to. Still, there are conditions which do not require emergency visits but do require a visit to your dental clinic in Edmonton as soon as an appointment comes available. Examples of this include lost crowns and fillings, broken brackets on dental braces, and tooth breaks or chips that have not broken into the pulp of the tooth.
Lost fillings and crowns can be addressed with a bit of chewing gum in order to provide relief. Press some sugar-free chewing gum into a lost filling, or over your natural tooth before replacing the crown. Broken brackets on braces can be managed by covering the bracket and any sharp edges with dental wax, which is available at your local drugstore. Although these are not permanent fixes, they will allow you to maintain more comfort until you can get in to see your Edmonton dentist.
What To Do
When you have a dental emergency on your hands, the first thing that should be done is to stop the bleeding if there is any, find any pieces of tooth if there are any, and contact an emergency dental clinic. There are many general dental clinics to choose from in downtown Edmonton, but when an emergency occurs you need an emergency dental clinic. When you have a dental emergency, taking time to look for the best dentist in Edmonton, or one who specializes in dentistry for children is not a luxury you can afford.
If you are unfamiliar with your area of town, use technology to cut downtime by looking for an emergency dental clinic. All smartphones can search “Emergency dentist near me” but be sure to turn on location sharing to ensure that your phone can make accurate recommendations. Contact the emergency dental clinic as soon as possible to explain your situation and let them know that you will be there as soon as possible.
When you arrive for your emergency appointment you can be confident that relief is on the way. At Uptown Dental Centre, we do everything from dental checkups to wisdom teeth removal, so you can relax into knowing that you will receive excellent care. In fact, dentists in Edmonton receive the same basic training to become general dentists before specializing, if they choose to do so. If you need to see a dentist other than your regular practitioner due to an emergency, you can do so with confidence. Your regular dentist will be happy to provide any follow-up care that you require once the more urgent concerns are addressed.
Emergency Due to Infection Pain
If you are an Edmonton resident and you are experiencing tooth pain that regular pain control medications are not alleviating, you should see an emergency dental clinic like Uptown Dental Centre. A general toothache could start slowly and become a more localized kind of tooth pain as the infection progresses. If the nerve is infected, it can die off and leave you thinking that your toothache has miraculously resolved itself – this is a dangerous assumption. A dead tooth increases the likelihood that the infection will progress into other tissues, like bone. Dental infections have the potential to be very serious – always call your Edmonton dentist to ask their advice if you are unsure of whether you need an emergency appointment.
Where teeth are infected, root canals are often performed as a means of avoiding teeth extraction. This process allows the infected tissue to be removed from the inside of the tooth before it is flushed and cleaned thoroughly. Once the inner tissue is removed, the tooth will no longer be able to send pain signals to the brain, and comfort returns. The empty tooth ‘canal’ is filled with a compound called gutta-percha and capped off with a filling or crown. Crowns are common after root canals where the tooth’s structure has been too compromised by the infection and restoration to be strong. Placing a crown over the tooth allows it to bear weight more evenly and protects it from the effects of bacteria and acids.
It is critical to follow your dentist’s instructions if you are provided with aftercare instructions or medications. Antibiotics must be taken in full in order to successfully treat infection and pain medication should be taken as prescribed in order to avoid the need to chase the pain if it becomes unmanageable. Keep inflammation down and promote healing by following the dentist’s orders. If you have had a wisdom tooth removed, follow your dentist’s instructions not to use straws or produce any sucking motion until the wound has adequately healed. Doing so could cause a painful condition called dry socket which would require another emergency dental appointment to resolve.