When you have problems with your mouth and teeth, the dentist should be the first person you call. But what if you run into trouble on a holiday, weekend, or in the middle of the night? Many patients have had this experience and did not know what to do until the beginning of the working days of the dental office. If you have oral and dental problems outside the working hours of the dental office, you need a dental emergency.

As an emergency dentist in Toronto emphasizes, it is important to distinguish between a standard dental problem that you can wait until the morning and a true dental emergency that threatens your dental health and life. The following will discuss the dental emergency and its related issues.

What Is Not Considered a Dental Emergency?

It is not a dental emergency if you can wait a few days to treat your problem. For example, a broken tooth is considered a dental emergency when it is very painful or has sharp edges that cause damage to the soft tissue inside the mouth. If the broken tooth does not hurt, you can wait until your dentist appointment.

Toothache is one of the problems that you can wait until the pain becomes severe and there are no symptoms of tooth abscess such as swelling of the face, swelling on the gums, and high fever. Waiting does not mean that you can avoid treatment for six months. A toothache is not something that will go away by itself. The cause of the toothache should be removed as soon as possible so that the tooth does not suffer severe decay. Until you see a dentist, you can use pain relievers to relieve your toothache.

If the filling or crown has fallen out, you can probably wait a few days to see the dentist. After the tooth filling falls out, you can temporarily put sugar-free gum on your tooth. If your dental veneer has fallen off, you can temporarily place it on your tooth using special adhesives available in dentistry.

Dental Emergency Prevention Methods

As you can see, most dental emergencies are preventable. In many cases, accidents and trauma are the cause of dental emergencies.

If you participate in violent combat and team sports, get a mouth guard to protect your teeth. You can get the mouth guard from the pharmacy, or if you need more accurate models, visit the dentist. The dentist makes a custom mouth guard for you by taking a mold of your mouth.

Some bad oral habits can cause damage to your teeth. Chewing on ice, the ends of pencils and pens, hard candies, and anything else hard can damage the tooth structure. Chewing on hard objects causes cracks in tooth enamel and, in the long run, can cause tooth breakage. By leaving such harmful habits, you can protect your teeth.

Do not use your teeth as tools. Opening soda and cans with teeth and tearing packages with teeth is incorrect. Use scissors and a door opener for these tasks.