Tooth Pain and the Hospital Emergency Room

Emergency rooms are the most expensive place to receive medical care, and they are often crowded. Seeking treatment at an ER for a toothache can add unneeded extra time and money to getting relief. Most people don’t realize that an ER is not the place to go for tooth pain unless there is a dentist on staff, which is very rare.

Dentists are the only ones that are allowed to pull a tooth, offer reconstructive care or assist with cavities. Medical doctors cannot help with these things. They can give you some antibiotics and painkillers, however most of the time, that doesn’t truly help anything. When you have a dental emergency, you need to call an emergency dentist.

Emergency Dental Services for Tooth Pain

We usually set aside time during the day to handle any emergency dental appointments. Typically these consist of getting you into the office as soon as possible. Some dentists will even come in on weekends and evenings. However, you will need to wait until the office is open at times. It varies by the clinic.

A toothache can be miserable. In fact, many people describe it as one of the worst pains. It can be something that is sharp when chewing to something constantly dull. There are a variety of reasons we have tooth pain, but getting relief can be as simple as setting up an emergency dental visit.

Tooth pain can be the result of many different things. Some common causes include cavities, teeth that are in need of a root canal and are infected, fillings that are loose or starting to crack, teeth that are sensitive to temperature changes and teeth grinding. The more severe causes are other teeth coming in, such as wisdom teeth, or an accident that has caused mouth injuries.

Things You Can Do at Home to Help With Tooth Pain

When you are experiencing tooth pain, there are some things you can take at home to help. These include ibuprofen, acetaminophen, aspirin, as well as rinsing with warm saltwater. You can also try gel anesthetics that you can purchase over the counter. Oftentimes these are marketed to teething babies, but now is not the time to worry about the marketing. Finding something that can bring the pain to a tolerable level is important, whenever possible. If your tooth pain is tolerable, you will want to wait until the dentist’s office is open.

You can also use ice on the area where the pain is coming from. Oftentimes, ice can help with the swelling, making the pain more tolerable. You want to avoid eating anything that is hot or cold. Try to stick with lukewarm. Soft foods can be best in this situation, so as not to aggravate the issue more. However, if you are in a lot of pain, you may need to call emergency dental services.

Emergency dental services are there for people that cannot get enough relief to be comfortable. While there are at-home solutions, these don’t always help enough. You might need a tooth extracted, antibiotics or stronger pain relief than you can get over the counter. If you have extreme tooth pain, count on our emergency dental services to help.