What Qualifies as Needing Emergency Dental Care?

When you’re experiencing severe dental symptoms, such as a cracked tooth or a severe toothache, it’s important to quickly seek emergency dental care. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Tim Nguyen at Parker West Dental Associates is offering online consultations to determine if your situation warrants an emergency dental visit. Our professional team is ready to help resolve your pain and discomfort as soon as possible. Don’t prolong calling our Plano, TX office when you are unsure of whether or not your situation is an emergency; this delay could lead to serious repercussions.

Signs of a dental emergency

It can be hard to know when something is severe enough to warrant help from an emergency dentist like Dr. Nguyen. An untreated dental issue can acutely impact your health. This is why it’s important to immediately contact our professional team at Parker West Dental Associates after you suspect you have a dental emergency. Our dental team is committed to offering emergency dental care for our patients around-the-clock.

Here are some common signs that you may be experiencing a dental emergency:

1. Damage to a tooth: Chips or cracks can usually wait until regular hours. However, if the break is large enough, it may be considered a dental emergency. A severe break can lead to damage within the interior of your tooth, which can increase your risk of severe nerve pain and the need for a future root canal.
2. Severe pain: If your tooth pain or sensitivity continues to worsen, it could signal an infection. In cases where a toothache doesn’t go away, you should quickly contact Dr. Nguyen, our emergency dentist in Plano, TX. When an infection is left untreated, it could get into the bloodstream and cause serious health issues.
3. Tooth loss: If you have lost a tooth, immediately place it in milk and saliva to preserve it. The faster that it can get back into the socket, the better the chances are that it can be functional again.
4. Abscess: If you suspect you have an abscess, you need to promptly call our emergency dental team. This means there is an infection at the root of a tooth. It will require a surgical procedure where Dr. Nguyen drains the tooth to fully treat it.
5. Metallic taste: If you’re tasting metal, an old filling may have loosened or cracked. Emergency dental care can restore the tooth before bacteria gets inside, which will require more extensive dental procedures later on.
6. Swollen jaw: Swelling in the jaw could mean you have an infection. Other signs of dental infection include trouble breathing or swallowing, fever, or persistent bad breath.

When should I find an emergency dentist?

There are many instances that warrant a dental emergency. At Parker West Dental Associates in Plano, TX, Dr. Nguyen specializes in treating these dental situations to restore our patients’ oral health. Gum injuries, lost fillings or crowns, or loose teeth are just some of the many examples of when you have a dental emergency.

Treating your dental emergency

Depending on your particular situation, our emergency dentist may provide immediate treatment or prescribe antibiotics to resolve an infection. This can be determined at a virtual consultation with Dr. Nguyen. Typically, after the infection clears, he can provide treatment to resolve the emergency.

The type of treatment that we use to treat your tooth pain will depend on the cause. Once we deem your situation a dental emergency, you will visit our office where Dr. Nguyen will perform a thorough dental examination. He will recommend the best tooth pain solution.

Some treatments used to treat dental emergencies at our Plano, TX office include:

• Fillings
• Crowns
• Root canals
• Antibiotics

Learn more on how to find an emergency dentist to resolve your tooth pain

It’s important to always be aware of what is occurring inside your mouth. This helps avoid any serious situations, such as an infection, from developing. Any significant changes in your teeth and gums can signal a problem. When you’re having tooth pain or other signs of a dental emergency, you should call our emergency dentist, Dr. Nguyen at Parker West Dental Associates. He is dedicated to helping his patients in Plano, TX with any dental emergency, regardless of the current pandemic. A virtual consultation allows him to learn more about your pain and to determine whether or not it warrants an emergency dentist visit.