There is a difference between standard dental services and emergency dental services. Here's what you need to know to understand the difference between standard and emergency dentists and dental services:
What Is an Emergency Dental Case?
To understand emergency dental services, you first need to know the meaning of an emergency dental situation.
If you are experiencing severe pain, bleeding or swelling around your gums and teeth, especially from an injury caused by an accident or impact from a sport, it can be classified as a major dental emergency case. They can also be caused by an underlying dental condition like an infection that has been getting worse over time. Examples of such cases may include loss of teeth, broken jawbones, cracked teeth, chipped teeth, broken teeth, large cavities, etc. These cases need immediate attention/dental treatment.
Not all emergency dental cases exhibit severe symptoms; some of them are minor. If they are not attended to as soon as possible, they can get worse leading to extensive damage that requires extensive and expensive treatment procedures. This tells you that it is not safe to think that the dental problem you have is minor; let a dentist inspect it to get an educated and professional diagnosis. Examples of minor dental emergency cases may include small cavities, infected gums, discoloured teeth coupled with sensitivity, discomfort and pain, foul breath, gingivitis, etc.
Who Is an Emergency Dentist?
This is a dentist who is trained to diagnose and treat emergency dental cases. His or her clinic should be fully equipped with all the pieces of equipment that can help treat the majority of emergency dental cases. This also includes fully trained and licensed staff.
Note that not all dental clinics offer emergency dental services. Check with their website first or call to enquire. As stated above, the clinic needs to be fully equipped to handle emergency dental cases, especially the major ones. Therefore, if a particular dental clinic is not equipped, there is no way it can handle major emergency dental cases.
What Should You Do When You Experience a Major Dental Emergency?
This depends on what happened and what you are experiencing. In most cases, you might need help. The person helping you should contact the emergency dentist and inform him or her what happened. You should be able to get first aid instructions before getting to the clinic where the dentist will have made the necessary preparations to receive and treat you.
Share11 August 2020
I have worked as a school nurse for decades. Children come to me with all sorts of scrapes and bumps and bruises. Black eyes from playing football, sprained wrists from falling off the monkey bars and stomachaches from too many sweets are common complaints. However, the issue that seems to cause the greatest angst is tooth problems. Sometimes a child will have a second tooth knocked out when playing sport and parents arrive in tears. At other times, children come to my office crying because their friends are teasing them about teeth that are discoloured or stick out. I take an active interest in the latest dental news so that I can give parents and children comfort and advice. I have included some of my collected wisdom on these pages. Perhaps this information can help you understand some options when faced with a dental problem. Thank you for reading.