Please call our office as soon as you determine that you have a dental emergency. We will be glad to work you in to our schedule if you have a dental emergency of any kind during regular business hours. After hours, over the weekend and during holidays, please read below for answers to common questions.

A true “dental” emergency is any acute swelling inside or outside of the mouth and/or jaws, excessive bleeding, severe pain that is not controlled by over the counter pain medication. If you are experiencing any of these symptoms and our office is not open please proceed to the nearest medical walk in clinic or emergency room.

For all other non life threatening dental emergencies please see below for common questions and answers.

If you have recently had a tooth prepared for a crown and are wearing an interim temporary crown, you have an appointment to have the permanent crown seated and are not in any pain with the temporary off, you may leave it off. Please keep the area clean and brushed as best as possible and avoid eating anything hard or crunchy until the permanent restoration can be seated.If it is a front tooth and our office is not open for business you may put a small amount of white tooth paste in the temporary crown and seat it back over the tooth.

If the crown fits back on the tooth correctly so that you bite is normal you may either purchase temporary cement at a drug store or use a small dab of white tooth paste to put the crown back in place until you can be seen by a dentist. It is not normal for a permanent crown to come off. If it a newly made crown there may have been contamination in the cementation process. If it is an older crown there could have been new decay that weakened the tooth structure or cement under the crown. A dentist will evaluate the situation and determine if the crown can simply be re-cemented or the tooth needs a new crown.

If this is a recently placed filling please call our office immediately and we will get you worked in as soon as possible. Please keep the area clean and flossed. Use a sensitive tooth paste if the tooth is sensitive. If the filling is older and has fallen out keep the area clean and flossed and make an appointment to have the area evaluated. If there is pain and swelling please inform us when you call. If it is after normal business hours and there is pain and swelling please go to the nearest walk in clinic or ER.

PLEASE DO NOT ADJUST YOUR REMOVABLE PARTIAL OR DENTURE YOURSELF. If you do it will void any kind of warranty you have with your dentist. If you have a sore area that makes it impossible to wear your partial or denture the best thing to do is leave it out until you can be seen by the dentist to adjust it. Use warm salt water rinses to sooth and help heal the sore areas.