Has a toothache ever snatched your sleep at night? Well, then it could be a matter of dental emergency. But there are times when simple tooth pain is not the signal for an emergency situation and you don’t need to call the dental office at odd hours of the night! So this one’s crucial – knowing which situations call for an emergency and which not. In this post, let us concentrate on a few of the common dental emergency situations. Thereafter, an ‘emergency dentist near me’ search would aid you to zero in on the best emergency dental clinic in Richmond, TX.
In case of pain, the location and most importantly its degree is used to determine whether it’s an emergency case. However, pain is not the only indicator! Some painless conditions may also be termed as an emergency! Here is a checklist of all the significant ones.
#1 A loose tooth
In case of adults, teeth are properly matured and fully grown to help you eat, speak, and talk uninterruptedly. Despite so, if you find a tooth of yours turning loose, it might call for an emergency dental visit. Sometimes, a loose tooth is painful. This indicates a localized infection. This should be addressed immediately and also properly diagnosed and treated. Timely treatment can prevent the infection from spreading, or keep your teeth from being extracted!
#2 Bleeding gums
If you find your gums to bleed after you floss, it isn’t ‘normal’ per say. Rather, it indicates some upcoming gum disease or gingivitis. If this does not call for an immediate dental visit, excessive and recurrent bleeding does. This could be coupled with aching and swelling too. Early examination and detection is important, especially in case of gum disease because untreated symptoms only allow the stages of gum disease to advance. They can reach the point of no return too when your original tooth will no longer be restored. Therefore gum bleeding could well be an emergency signal.
#3 A swollen jaw
A swollen jaw, coupled with a bad taste in the mouth, fever or troubled should prompt you to seek emergency dental assistance! A swollen jaw could indicate a salivary gland infection which is a bacterial infection caused by a blockage in the salivary glands. The blockage prevents saliva from doing its job, that is washing away bacteria. Although this infection is uncommon, swollen gums need immediate attention and check up by the dentist Richmond, TX.
#4 You are getting constant headaches
Although headaches might have an array of reasons, chronic and recurring ones should be dealt with urgency. Since the teeth and head are connected, any pain within the oral cavity can affect or result in a headache. If you are in the habit of bruxism or grinding of your teeth, a headache could be one of the severe outcomes. Patients that constantly grind their teeth commonly experience headaches. You need to contact your dentist immediately and sometimes treatment is as simple as wearing a mouth guard at night.
#5 Some lingering Canker sores
This applies for any lesions within your oral cavity that simply does not seem to go away. Almost every individual is faced with canker sores at some point in their lives. The only time this becomes a cause of concern is when they linger on or become infected. Call your emergency dentist at Richmond, TX without fail, if more than two weeks have passed!
#6 Your tooth went numb
Numbness indicates that the tooth roots have been affected. A total lack of feeling might indicate that an abscess could have reached the roots to affect the nerve lying within. This hinders any sensation from reaching your brain and the feeling of pain is totally absent. Therefore, numbness also proves to be a warning signal.
An emergency dental visit can thus be inclusive of much more than a mere toothache. So, it’s important to be aware of what’s going on in your mouth. Any significant changes should be paid heed to and addressed for, without delay!