Emergency Dentistry

Not the dental service you need but the service you deserve.

You don’t want it to ever happen to you, but it someday might. A fall can chip a tooth. A child may have hit you right in the mouth and your gums are bleeding. Emergencies that require immediate pain alleviation such as broken teeth, broken fillings, popped crowns, swelling or painful infections require our emergency services to treat the problem and stop further damage from happening.

The goal of our Emergency Services is to prevent more extensive treatment requirements for pain or damage to the mouth.

Foothills Dental is open earlier and later than most dental offices because we know emergencies rarely happen during normal business hours. We are also open on Saturdays.

Specific examples of Dental Emergencies are:

Toothaches or Constant Tooth Pain

Pain is only a symptom of a dental problem. The cause of the pain should not be ignored. An examination will be able to identify the root cause of the pain and eliminate the issue. Some reasons for toothaches are nerve infections usually caused by decay or broken teeth. Your chances of pain being resolved more quickly and spending less often depend on how quickly tooth pain is addressed.

Cracks, Fractures or Chips

These emergencies can happen by something as simple as biting into an unexpectedly hard object. Sometimes they are caused by impact to the teeth from an accident. Regular grinding of the teeth due to clenching the jaw during sleep or moments of stress can also cause teeth to be susceptible to chipping and cracking. Exposed layers past the surface of teeth are dangerous. Bacteria can grow and begin to infect areas in and around the teeth. Our emergency services fix the problem and provide preventative options to stop the problem from recurring.

Loose Tissue Injury

Lips, gums, the inside of the cheeks and your tongue are all soft tissue parts of the mouth designed to insulate and protect your teeth. When injured, soft tissue can feel very painful because of the many nerves in these areas. You can often stop the pain of soft tissue injury if a tear or laceration is incurred by rinsing the mouth with warm water and applying pressure to stop the bleeding. If the pain persists, infection or wounds to the soft tissue need to be addressed immediately by scheduling an emergency visit.

Past Restoration Becoming Loose or Damaged

Temporary or even permanent restorations can come loose or even fall out. Crowns or fillings that pop out can usually be addressed in a scheduled visit but sometimes these incidents cause pain and require an emergency visit to bring function back to the mouth.

Abscessed or Infected Tooth

Leaving a tooth abscessed or infected can lead to serious and even life threatening complications. Infection can spread from the mouth into different systems of the body, causing treatment to be more severe and costly. Severe throbbing pain, sensitivity to hot or cold items or fever are all symptoms of an infected tooth and need to be treated immediately.

Frenectomy

This condition, commonly known as a lip or tongue tie, is where a child’s lip becomes restricted or inhibited by the upper bands behind the lips or below the tongue known as frenulums. When these areas are to short or thick, it can stop a child’s mouth full range of motion that may cause problems for breast feeding, eating or speaking.

Treating a lip or tongue tie is quick and easy. A topical numbing agent is applied to the area and quickly detached with a dental laser. Very little pain is felt during or after the treatment.