If you’ve experienced a dental emergency and it’s outside of clinic hours the best thing to do is to contact a dental hospital. The Royal Melbourne Dental Hospital provide emergency treatment and advice 24/7. Failing that, you can contact the emergency department of any general hospital. The more prompt you seek dental treatment/advice in an emergency, often the better the outcome of treatment will be.
The most common dental emergencies are:
- Pain
- Trauma
- Loss of tooth
- Swollen gums/face
- Chipped tooth or filling
While it is still important to seek medical attention for all dental emergencies, here are some tips on what to do for specific cases:
Pain:
- If you are experiencing dental pain in a tooth or multiple teeth, book an appointment to see your general dentist
- Mention to the receptionist that you are experiencing pain and your appointment will be prioritised
- To manage the pain in the meantime take ibuprofen or paracetamol
- If the pain is unbearable contact a dental emergency hospital to be seen immediately
Trauma/Loss of tooth:
- Try to find/preserve the tooth that has been lost
- Store tooth in saline or milk, or moisten with saliva and wrap in cling film
- See dentist immediately, the best outcome when losing an adult tooth is to have it placed within the hour so that it can reattach easier
- Only adult teeth are re-implanted not children’s baby-teeth
Swollen gums/face
- Contact dentist or dental hospital immediately if experiencing a swollen gum/face due to an unhealthy tooth or teeth
- Swollen gums can be a result from gum infection which can lead to trouble breathing and blood infections if not treated quickly
Chipped tooth or filling
- Book an appointment with a dentist to see what kind of treatment is needed
- Try to find and preserve the chipped bit
- If it is a tooth preserve in saline or milk
- If it is a synthetic material (e.g. crown or filling) wrap in cling film and bring with you to appointment