Emergency dentists provide urgent care for severe dental issues, such as extreme pain or damage to teeth. They may perform extractions, fill cavities, stabilize broken teeth, and offer 24-hour services, but availability varies by location.
An emergency dentist takes care of dental emergencies. Generally, a dental emergency is one that involves extreme pain or damage to the teeth. For example, if a tooth needs immediate extraction or a filling or crown comes off and causes pain, it is a dental emergency. On the contrary, if a person needs their teeth professionally cleaned or has a cavity that needs filling but is painless, it is not a dental emergency. Most emergency dentists are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week to handle dental emergencies whenever they occur, although the availability of an emergency dentist will generally depend on the patient’s location.
Generally, an emergency dentist deals with situations involving severe pain and damage. Such urgent situations could include extreme tooth decay, an abscessed or infected tooth, or a broken tooth. Often, emergency dentists will perform extractions or, if the tooth can be salvaged, fill a cavity. These dentists can also treat sore gums that are swollen due to infection or disease. Whether the dentist prescribes or provides any medications, such as pain relievers or antibiotics, depends on each patient’s specific situation and the dentist’s policy.
Some dental emergencies are more complicated than an extraction or filling. For example, an emergency dentist may need to perform an emergency root canal. If there is pain, he may replace a crown that has fallen off or apply a temporary crown until the patient can make an appointment to get a permanent replacement. Likewise, if a tooth breaks but does not break or fall out, an emergency dentist can stabilize it until the patient’s regular dentist can repair it. People who lose teeth due to accidents or other injuries may visit emergency dentists for replantation.
Due to the nature of their profession, emergency dentists generally offer 24-hour services. This means that the office is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Thus, a patient who wakes up at three o’clock in the morning with severe toothache can seek emergency dental care immediately rather than waiting for office hours to make an appointment.
Unfortunately, emergency dentists are not located in all areas. Generally, large cities are home to one or more emergency dentists, while smaller rural areas have dentists who only work traditional hours. For some patients, that means driving an hour or more to find an emergency dentist, but for others it means waiting until the regular dentist opens for business.
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