Emergency Tooth Extraction
When an accident occurs involving your body, you may need to visit the emergency room. Similarly, when accidents occur involving your teeth, you will need to visit a specialist to ensure your ongoing oral health. These specialists are emergency dentists.
What Is Emergency Dentistry?
Emergency dentistry is the field of dentistry that involves any emergency services that cannot wait until a regularly scheduled appointment. These emergencies may include cracks, breaks, severe pain or other issues that require emergency attention. While an emergency dentist will do everything they can to save the teeth of their patients, there are some situations in which a tooth or teeth cannot be saved. When this is the case, an emergency tooth extraction will be required.
Why Would I Need an Emergency Tooth Extraction?
An emergency tooth extraction is required when it is absolutely imperative that a tooth be removed within a 24 to 48 hour period. These situations include massive breaks, severe pain, large cracks and other scenarios that may put a patient’s oral health at risk. If an emergency dentist can, they will save the tooth. If they can’t, they will remove the tooth and discuss what options you have for replacement.
Because of the importance of emergency procedures, most emergency dentists will try their best to see you within 24 hours.
Will It Be More Expensive?
The simple answer is, “Yes.” Emergency dentistry, just like a visit to the emergency room, leaves little to no time for the dentist to prepare. While some offices specialize in emergency dental services, others will only take emergency patients if absolutely necessary. Emergency dentistry procedures also may not be covered by insurance—which means the patient will have to not only pay the full price out of pocket, but also any additional costs incurred due to it being an emergency procedure.
With all of that in mind, it is still extremely important to visit an emergency dentist if an emergency occurs. While you may want to “gut it out” to save a few dollars, you will likely increase the amount of pain you are in, while also making it more difficult for the dentist to save your tooth. If you allow the damage to continue to get worse, your dentist will likely need to perform more expensive procedures to save the tooth. If the damage gets bad enough, the only option will be full extraction.
How Do I Find an Emergency Dentist?
If you are having a dental emergency, you may be wondering where you can find an emergency dentist in your area. One option for finding an emergency dentist is contacting your general dentist to see if they perform emergency procedures, or if they have any openings for the next day or same day. If they do not take emergency patients, ask if they know of any emergency dentists in the area that they can refer you to. If they don’t know anyone, consider searching online.
Make sure to visit an emergency dentist as soon as possible to handle any emergency issues—including an emergency tooth extraction.
More Information About Tooth Extraction : Health After Tooth Extraction