Emergency Dentist — Fort Worth, TX

Toothaches  

Is My Toothache a Dental Emergency? Although toothaches don’t always warrant a same-day visit to our office, yours might! The best way to tell is by assessing your symptoms. If they have persisted for more than 24 hours or seem to be getting progressively worse, then you shouldn’t hesitate to get in touch with us to schedule an appointment.

How You Should Handle a Toothache Until your appointment at our Fort Worth dental office, we recommend rinsing with warm saltwater periodically, sticking to soft foods, using a cold compress for 10 minutes at a time, and taking OTC pain medication as directed. These will help alleviate your discomfort and prevent further harm until your emergency exam.

How We Treat Toothaches Toothaches that are the result of minor damage, like a small cavity, can often be treated with a tooth-colored filling. More extensive damage, on the other hand, requires more extensive care, like a dental crown, root canal treatment, or both.

Chipped Teeth  

Is a Chipped Tooth a Dental Emergency? Sometimes, yes! For example, if the chip is substantial in size, you shouldn’t hesitate to reach out to our Fort Worth dental team to schedule an appointment.

How You Should Handle a Chipped Tooth Unfortunately, your tooth cannot regenerate. So, you need to schedule an appointment with us and do what you can to protect your tooth from further harm in the meantime, like sticking to soft foods.

How We Treat Chipped Teeth Cosmetic dental bonding is one of the most popular solutions because it’s suitable for all ages, it can be placed in one appointment, and it’s more budget-friendly upfront. Veneers are another solution for chipped teeth, and they are particularly effective at addressing more moderate chips.

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Cracked Tooth  

Is a Cracked Tooth a Dental Emergency? Absolutely! After all, this dental injury can be quite painful, and there’s a risk that an infection will develop or the tooth will break further. For all of these reasons, we recommend contacting our Fort Worth dental team right away to schedule an exam.

How You Should Handle a Cracked Tooth It’s important to try and protect your tooth from further damage until your appointment. A few steps you can take include not chewing on that side of your mouth, avoiding crunchy foods entirely, and rinsing periodically with clean, lukewarm water.

How We Treat Cracked Teeth One way to treat a cracked tooth is to cover it with a dental crown. Another way is to remove the tooth and replace it with a dental bridge or implant. Ultimately, the approach we recommend taking depends largely on the extent of the damage.

Very Sensitive Teeth

Are Very Sensitive Teeth a Dental Emergency? Dental sensitivity does require immediate attention if it has lasted for more than 24 hours or it’s just one of the many abnormal dental symptoms you’re experiencing. So, don’t hesitate to call us to schedule an appointment within the next day or two.

How You Should Handle Very Sensitive Teeth At home, there’s really only one thing you can do: try to avoid exacerbating your symptoms. For that reason, we recommend avoiding hot drinks as well as cold, spicy, or acidic foods.

How We Treat Very Sensitive Teeth To determine the answer, we need to determine the root of the problem! Oftentimes, it is a cracked, decayed, or otherwise damaged tooth, which requires a tooth-colored filling, dental crown, or root canal treatment.

Knocked-Out Tooth

Is My Knocked-Out Tooth a Dental Emergency? Of course. In fact, it’s a dental emergency that requires treatment within the hour, so make calling us your top priority. We’ll schedule an appointment for you and walk you through what to do from there.

How You Should Handle a Knocked-Out Tooth Patients often start to panic if they can’t find their tooth. Instead, just focus on getting to our Fort Worth dental office. If you can find your tooth, however, then you should place it back in its socket or put it in a clean container filled with milk. This will help preserve the root surface cells.

How We Treat Knocked-Out Teeth Hopefully, we’ll be able to save your tooth. If we can’t, then we will instead start the process of replacing it with a dental bridge or implant.

Lost Filling or Crown

Is a Lost Filling or Crown a Dental Emergency? Definitely. So, even if you aren’t in pain or the filling you lost was small, contact our Fort Worth dental team ASAP to schedule an appointment with our emergency dentist.

How You Should Handle a Lost Filling or Crown Call us first. Then, focus on doing what you can to protect your tooth from harm until your appointment. That includes not chewing on that side of your mouth and rinsing with clean, lukewarm water periodically.

How We Treat Lost Fillings or Crowns How we intervene depends largely on the type of restoration you lost. If it was a filling, then we will likely replace it with a new one. If it was a dental crown, we need to determine if your existing one can be re-cemented back in place or if a replacement needs to be made.

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Broken Denture

Is My Broken Denture a Dental Emergency? Yes, because even minor damage to your restoration can negatively impact your day-to-day life. So, don’t wait – contact our Fort Worth dental team right away.

How You Should Handle a Broken Denture Since wearing a broken denture increases the risk of it breaking further, we recommend putting it in its designated case instead. We also recommend calling us to schedule an appointment and sticking to foods like plain yogurt until then.

How We Treat Broken Dentures Hopefully, we’ll be able to repair your dentures the day of your appointment. If we can’t because they are split down the middle or they shattered into multiple pieces, then we will start the process of having a new one made.

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Loose Permanent Tooth

Is a Loose Permanent Tooth a Dental Emergency? Definitely. In fact, we recommend calling us ASAP so we can schedule an emergency exam the same day. Over the phone, we will also share what to do (and what not to do) to prevent the tooth from loosening further.

How You Should Handle Loose Permanent Teeth Basically, you want to avoid touching the tooth with your finger, wiggling it with your tongue, eating crunchy foods, or doing anything else that will cause it to become even looser.

How We Treat Loose Permanent Teeth If your tooth is slightly loose, there’s a good chance that we can use a dental splint to help it heal back in place. If that’s not an option, then we will need to restore the look, health, and function of your smile another way: removing your tooth and replacing it with the next best thing, like a dental implant.

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Injury to the Gums, Lips, or Tongue

Is an Injury to the Gums, Lips, or Tongue a Dental Emergency? Usually, soft tissue injuries like these do not warrant an emergency visit to our office. They do, however, warrant a visit to the ER or a call to 911 if the cut is bleeding uncontrollably.

How You Should Handle an Injury to the Gums, Lips, or Tongue First, rinse your mouth with clean, cool water so you can pinpoint where the cut is. Once you’ve found it, apply pressure with a damp, clean washcloth or some gauze.

How We Treat Injuries to the Gums, Lips, or Tongue The cut should stop bleeding within 10 minutes of applying pressure. If it doesn’t, then call 911 or head to the ER.

Jaw Pain

Is Jaw Pain a Dental Emergency? Mild, consistent jaw pain should absolutely be monitored. That said, it doesn’t typically warrant an emergency visit. If you’re unsure whether or not you should schedule an appointment, give us a call so we can learn more about your symptoms.

How You Should Handle Jaw Pain To alleviate the pain stemming from your jaw in the short-term, we recommend using a cold compress, taking OTC pain medication, and sticking to extremely soft foods, like applesauce. For long-term relief, schedule an exam with us so we can pinpoint the root of the problem and, of course, the best treatment.

How We Treat Jaw Pain Impacted wisdom teeth are often the root of the problem, especially for patients who are in their late teens or early twenties. If that’s the case for you, then we will create a custom treatment plan and schedule an appointment for you to come in and have them removed.

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Something Stuck Between the Teeth

Usually, patients think reaching for something sharp, like a toothpick, is a good idea. However, this often just pushes the debris further into position, making the situation worse. That’s why we recommend taking a different approach: rinsing with warm saltwater and flossing. If this doesn’t work, then give our Fort Worth dental team a call to schedule an appointment.