Dental Emergencies

Save all the pieces of the tooth that you can find. Rinse your mouth and the tooth fragments with warm water. Apply a cold compress. Visit the dentist as soon as possible. Some types of chips, cracks, or fractures are relatively painless, but others may result in extreme pain. When you chip or fracture a tooth, contact our office immediately.

• If any part of the tooth has broken off, rinse it in lukewarm water and bring it with you to the appointment.
• Apply gauze to any bleeding areas for 10 minutes or until the bleeding stops
• Place an icepack or cold compress on the cheek over the area to minimize swelling and pain
• Use a topical pain reliever
• Broken teeth may present with little to no pain. They can be sharp to the cheeks, lips, or tongue.

First, contact our office immediately to make arrangements to meet with our dentists. Then place an ice pack or cold compress over the area to relieve swelling and discomfort. You may also use a mild pain reliever.

Our dentists will examine the dislodged or loosened tooth and reposition and stabilize it again in your mouth. If it remains in the mouth and is attached to the blood vessels and nerves, you may not need a root canal. If the tooth does not heal, a root canal treatment may be necessary.

If your tooth has been completely knocked out of the socket or displaced, call our office immediately.

1. Rinse your mouth to remove blood or other debris.
2. Pick up the tooth by the crown (chewing surface). Do not touch the root!
3. If possible, gently rinse the root with water to clean it.
4. Have the person (patient) who had the tooth knocked out lie on the ground or floor and tip their head back (if possible, place some kind of cushion under the head).
5. On the count of 3, have the patient raise their leg at the same time that you push the tooth back into the socket. Once the tooth is back in the socket and at the same level as the surrounding teeth, hold it in place and meet your dentist at Stillwater Dental as soon as possible.
6. Our dentists will splint the tooth in place and follow through with medication.

If you cannot do this, keep the tooth moist by holding it in the cheek pouch, or by placing it in milk, saline solution, your own saliva, a tooth preservation kit (available at most pharmacies) or in water.

Crowns or fillings may become loose due to a blow to the face or decay in the tooth beneath the restoration. If this happens, contact our office to make an appointment as soon as possible. You may experience heightened tooth sensitivity when you lose your restoration. In the meantime, keep your dental crown (if you have it) in a cool, safe place.

• Clean the crown and affix it to the tooth with dental cement (available at pharmacies)
• Smear the top of the tooth with cement to alleviate discomfort
• Apply clove oil to the tooth for pain relief
• Do NOT use any kind of glue to replace the crown on your tooth.

As long as the crown and the tooth are in good shape, we can re-cement the crown back on. Lost fillings can usually be replaced as well.

This type of pain can be felt in the jaw joint by your ear. It is especially painful when you move your jaw, such as opening or closing your mouth. You may suffer from TMJ if you experience frequent jaw pain or facial pain. For TMJ pain, you may need a bite guard, bite adjustment, and/or massage therapy.

• Grinding, clicking or popping sounds in the jaw when you open and close your mouth
• Inability to open your mouth wide to speak, yawn or chew
• A locked or stuck jaw
• Pain when chewing and biting
• Pain in the neck, shoulders or ears
• Frequent headaches