TIPS FOR PREVENTING DENTAL EMERGENCIES

Dental emergencies occur in various ways. Examples include oral injuries, unexplained dental pain, and unexpected tooth loss. Many people think dental emergencies appear unexpectedly, but some are foreseeable and preventable. Prevent such emergencies to avoid dental pain, conserve your natural teeth, and minimize dental care costs.

Below are some tips to prevent dental emergencies.

Get Preventive Treatments

Preventive dentistry reduces your risk of all oral problems, including those that might necessitate emergency dental care. Below are helpful forms of preventive dental care.

Routine Examinations

Routine dental examinations help identify emerging problems so you can take care of them early enough. For example, the examinations may help your dentist to identify deep gum, which are precursors to gum disease. 

Routine Cleaning

Brushing and flossing at home leave some gunk on your teeth. Routine professional cleaning removes the gums that harbor the bacteria that harm your teeth.

Orthodontic Treatment

Orthodontic treatment aligns crooked teeth. Crooked teeth face a heightened risk of injury due to physical trauma. For example, dental alignment reduces the risk of losing a tooth or suffering a cracked tooth if something hits your face.

Dental Sealing

Dental sealing fills cracks or pits on your teeth's surfaces. Such cracks harbor bacteria and are difficult to clean.

Practice Good Oral Hygiene

Brush at least twice a day and floss daily to remove bacteria, acids, and bits of food from your teeth. Rinse your mouth with plain water if you cannot brush after snacking. Chew sugarless gum if you cannot rinse your mouth. The chewing action will increase saliva flow, which cleans the teeth.

Good oral care reduces the level of bacteria in your mouth. Such bacteria trigger gum disease or dental carriers that start small before flaring up into painful ailments that require urgent dental care.

Wear Protective Dental Equipment

Wear a mouthguard to protect your teeth from injuries whenever you engage in risky activities. For example, wear a mouthguard when playing contact sports, such as boxing. The mouthguard will keep your teeth apart and absorb the impact of physical trauma, for example, if something hits you in the face.

Stop Bad Oral Habits

Bad oral habits cause both acute and chronic injuries to the mouth and teeth. Examples of such habits include:

• Chewing on hard objects, such as ice
• Chewing your fingernails
• Using your teeth to open beer bottles

Such oral habits can cause tiny cracks or chips on your teeth's enamel. Deep cracks might require emergency treatment. The cracks may admit bacteria deep into your mouth, which can cause serious dental pain. 

Minimize DIY Treatments

At-home dental treatments are dangerous, especially if you don't know what you are doing.

• You might develop teeth sensitivity or soft tissue irritation if you bleach your teeth at home.
• You might damage your jawbone and teeth socket if you extract your teeth at home.
• You might damage your enamel if you remove your dental braces at home.

Leave dental care to the professionals. Get your dentist's approval for any treatment you wish to do at home, such as teeth whitening.

Get Early Treatment

Many dental treatments start small before worsening. Get early treatment to avoid sudden flare-ups or complications. For example, you can avoid infections and serious pain if you treat a chipped or cracked tooth as soon as it occurs. Prompt treatment also reduces the temptation of DIY care should the condition worsen at an odd hour.

Hopefully, you won't experience unexplained and sudden oral problems. However, you might still suffer unexplained dental problems despite your best precautions. Contact Mianecki & Carlino for a diagnosis and prompt treatment if that happens. You can also consult us for routine or preventive dental care and benefit from our state-of-the-art dental practice.