Is a Broken Tooth an Emergency?

A broken tooth does not always require emergency dental treatment. Quite often, most people can wait for their next scheduled dental appointment for conditions such as a toothache or tooth sensitivity. While waiting, an over-the-counter medication will provide sufficient relief until your dentist is available. Sometimes it is just not clear what necessitates a trip to an emergency dental visit. A broken tooth does falls into this category, and with some of the suggestions to follow, you can determine whether immediate emergency attention is necessary.

Understanding What is a Dental Emergency

A dental emergency is a situation that requires immediate attention from a medical professional. In many cases, this usually involves calling your dentist and scheduling a same-day urgent appointment. In other situations, it might be necessary to go to your local hospital emergency room or urgent care facility. This will provide you with the opportunity to get immediate medical treatment while waiting to be seen by your dentist.

How Do You Know When to Seek Emergency Treatment?

A broken tooth usually warrants an emergency visit to your dentist. In fact, a broken tooth is one of the most common dental emergencies. It is not unusual for people to suffer a broken tooth as a result of participating in a sports-related activity, taking a fall, or even eating hard food. While a broken tooth is a serious matter, there are still two types of a broken tooth that is considered non-emergencies.

These broken tooth events do not require an immediate trip to your dentist or an emergency room, that being a minor tooth fracture or a chipped tooth. There is no immediate threat to your overall health or well-being. In either of these cases simply schedule a regular dental appointment in the near future.
However, emergency dental care is needed for a major broken tooth. A serious fracture is one where a large chunk of the tooth has broken off. This condition is usually accompanied by some intense dental pain. Under these circumstances, seeking out immediate medical attention is far more crucial.

Knowing Where to Go for a Dental Emergency

You can get the medical treatment you need whether there is a dentist available or not. Your dentist might set aside some time daily to treat emergency patients.

So, calling your dentist or another local dentist in the area is certainly worthwhile. There is a particularly good chance the office can work your emergency in the very same day the broken tooth happened.

A broken tooth certainly never happens at a convenient time. A broken tooth accident can happen at night, on the weekend or during a holiday. In these situations, call your dental office no matter what time it is. There is usually an emergency number that you can dial that will provide you pre-recorded instructions on how to manage your dental emergency. There is also the option of going to the ER.