How much do you know about emergency dental services? If you're lucky, not much. Typically, people only learn about these types of services when they need them. Thus, if you've never experienced a dental emergency, there's a good chance that you don't know much about it.
Even if you're one of the lucky ones who don't know about emergency dentistry, it's still important to learn. After all, a dental emergency can pop up at any time. You could be eating lunch, bite down on a bone by accident, or find yourself with a broken tooth. In such a situation, you would want to find emergency dental services in Northern Virginia right away.
Let's discuss emergency dentistry in more detail. This way, you can learn what emergency dental is and how you know if you need it. We'll also discuss when you should go to the emergency room instead of an emergency dentist.
What Is an Emergency Dentist? When Do You Need One?
It's pretty easy to understand what an emergency dentist is. As the name suggests, an emergency dentist is a general dentist who provides emergency services. In short, this dental professional is able to provide treatment quickly in the event of a dental emergency.
A general dentist typically handles standard teeth cleanings, teeth whitening, and fillings. An emergency dentist is more likely to treat a broken tooth or a filling that has come loose. These are issues that cause a lot of pain and need treatment quickly.
The two most common reasons why people seek emergency dental care are for broken teeth and chronic tooth pain. Let's take a look at these two dental issues.
Breaking a Tooth
When you break a tooth, you'll find yourself in a lot of pain. Unfortunately, it can be fairly easy to crack or break a tooth. It doesn't take much. In fact, you could crack a tooth on a hard piece of candy or on a piece of bone that accidentally got left inside a piece of meat.
You can also crack a tooth while playing sports or being active in general. For example, you could go out for a jog and accidentally trip. If you hit your head, it could be enough to damage your teeth.
Thankfully, it's easy to figure out if you have a broken tooth. If you think that you have chipped, fractured, or broken a tooth, just look into the mirror. Sometimes, you can spot a chip just by looking for it. Another sign that your tooth is broken is pain. A broken tooth can even send sharp pains throughout your whole mouth.
If you do have a broken tooth, it's important to see an emergency dentist right away. Even if the pain doesn't seem that bad, you could end up losing the tooth. Visiting an emergency dentist quickly can increase your chances of saving your natural tooth.
Unrelenting Pain
At some point in your life, you're likely to feel some kind of tooth pain. Most of the time, this pain is short-lived. However, sometimes the pain sticks around for hours or even days. When this happens, it's a sign that something is seriously wrong.
Of course, you're probably going to want to visit an emergency dentist if you have bad tooth pain. That's because tooth pain can keep you up at night and even make it hard to enjoy everyday life. It's a problem that you're going to want to take care of quickly.
Other than breaking a tooth, there are a number of things that can cause tooth pain. Sometimes, the pain is caused by a loose filling. Once a filling becomes dislodged, it exposes your tooth to decay. Thus, if you have a filling that you suspect is loose or has already fallen out, you should make an appointment to see an emergency dentist right away.
Is It Difficult to Find an Emergency Dentist?
Some people feel that it's difficult to find an emergency dentist. However, it doesn't have to be. The main reason why people think it's difficult is because not all general dentists offer emergency dental services. Thus, there's a chance that the dentists they see in Northern Virginia don't offer these services. As a result, they don't know where to go for treatment.
However, finding an emergency dentist isn't that difficult. In fact, you've already found one. Our office is proud to offer emergency services in Northern Virginia. If you're in need of our services, give us a call today.
Emergency Dental or Emergency Room?
Let's say that you were out jogging and fell. When you did, you hit your chin on the curb, causing your teeth to hit together really hard. Now, you see blood and are in a lot of pain. Should you go to the dentist's office or the hospital?
Determining which medical facility you should go to depends on the situation. In the explanation above, you should probably go to the emergency room. That's because you didn't just damage your teeth. You also suffered impact damage to your head. This means that you could be suffering from a concussion and not even know it.
In general, if there's a lot of blood or swelling in your face, you should always go to the hospital first. However, just because you go to the emergency room, doesn't mean that you shouldn't see your dentist too. In fact, the first thing that you should do after you get out of the hospital is set up an appointment with your Northern Virginia dentist. The office staff will be able to better treat the damage done to your mouth than the emergency room staff.
Of course, there's one more thing to consider as well. You have to think about the time of day that you need treatment. Unfortunately, the vast majority of dental offices that offer emergency treatment only do so during normal business hours. Thus, if you need treatment outside of these operating hours, you'll have to visit the emergency room.
We Are Here to Help You
Finding the treatment that you need doesn't have to be hard. In fact, we offer emergency services for all of our clients in Northern Virginia. If you need dental treatment now, don't wait to give our office a call. We can help you set up an appointment to receive emergency dental.
