Emergencies

We know that dental emergencies are stressful for both you and your child. During our regular office hours, immediate attention will be given to your call and your child will be seen as soon as possible. If you call and our office is closed, follow the instructions provided and we will return your call as soon as we can. If your child is experiencing a serious or life threatening emergency, please visit the nearest emergency room.

We consider the following situations pediatric dental emergencies: prolonged or uncontrollable bleeding, severe pain, knocked out teeth, and teeth that are fractured or broken. There are other situations in which emergency dental care may or may not be needed, including damaged crowns, restorations that have fallen out, facial trauma, and orthodontic devices that need repair.

Emergency rooms don’t typically have dentists on staff. If our office isn’t open, your child’s pediatrician can give you advice on how to control your child’s tooth pain until you’re able to get them in for an appointment with us. That said, if your child’s pain is accompanied by a fever, trouble breathing, fatigue, or difficulty swallowing, you should bring them to the emergency room for treatment. A hospital can provide antibiotics to treat an infection that has spread and pain management to help your child feel more comfortable.

Many patients are surprised to learn that knocked out permanent teeth can be saved. Acting quickly is key—with prompt treatment, the tooth can be reinserted into the socket and stabilized so the gums reattach. If a baby tooth is knocked out, we usually either leave it be or replace it with a space maintainer, depending on your child’s age.

The surest sign of a dental abscess is a pus-filled pimple-like bump on the gums near the painful tooth. Other symptoms include throbbing, severe pain, fever, swelling, foul odor or taste, and difficulty eating. A dental abscess is always considered a serious dental emergency. When a child has an abscess, it means their tooth is infected. This infection can easily spread throughout the mouth and other parts of the body, so prompt treatment is needed.

The surest sign of a dental abscess is a pus-filled pimple-like bump on the gums near the painful tooth. Other symptoms include throbbing, severe pain, fever, swelling, foul odor or taste, and difficulty eating. A dental abscess is always considered a serious dental emergency. When a child has an abscess, it means their tooth is infected. This infection can easily spread throughout the mouth and other parts of the body, so prompt treatment is needed.

Yes, a child’s chipped tooth can often be fixed. The broken tooth fragment can be bonded back onto the tooth. When this isn’t a possibility, we can fill in where the chip is using cosmetic bonding.

Chipped teeth do not grow back. Of course, if your child chips a baby tooth, they will get a second chance when their adult tooth erupts!

No, because baby teeth do not have the long roots of adult teeth, they cannot be put back in. Depending on your child’s age, we may need to place a space maintainer where the missing tooth once was in order to reserve room for the adult tooth to erupt.

A knocked out tooth won’t last long, which is why it’s critical to get to our office as soon as you can. If you can insert the tooth back into the socket immediately, this is the best case scenario and the tooth is more likely to survive. If the tooth is stored in saliva, it will last up to an hour.   The tooth will always need a root canal after being completely knocked out of the socket.