You might need an emergency dentist if you have an injured tooth. The seriousness of the structural damage to your tooth often determines if urgent treatment is needed.
Minor injuries like chipped teeth still need to be fixed because the injury makes them more vulnerable to decay, but such treatment can wait a few weeks. Serious injuries, like a crack that reaches the pulp chamber, require immediate treatment, however.
Here are treatments that our emergency dentist might recommend for an injured tooth.
Crowns are popular restorations that protect teeth and prevent them from breaking apart further. They also restore the appearance of damaged teeth because they completely cover them up. A crown is designed to look just like a natural tooth, so it blends in with the rest of the patient’s teeth.
Crowns are usually recommended for moderate to severe damage to teeth. Getting a tooth restored typically involves two trips to the clinic. The initial appointment is used to prep the tooth by removing enamel from its sides so the crown fits better. An impression is also taken during this visit, and a temporary crown is placed on the person’s tooth.
The impression goes to a laboratory where dental restorations like crowns are made. The custom restoration returns to the emergency dentist in about two weeks. The patient goes back to the clinic to have their temporary crown removed and the custom crown placed.
Damage that opens up a tooth’s pulp chamber requires root canal therapy. A tooth’s pulp chamber is sealed off from the rest of its crown (the visible part) when a tooth is intact, preventing bacteria in the mouth from getting to the nerves, blood vessels, and connective tissue there.
An injury that compromises the pulp chamber leaves a tooth vulnerable to infection. Root canal therapy is performed to prevent that from happening when a tooth has been damaged. The treatment can also be used to treat an infected tooth.
Root canal therapy involves drilling a hole into the tooth so dental tools can be used to extract the pulp chamber’s content. The area is cleaned and medicated before sealing the tooth with gutta-percha. Crowns are often placed on teeth that have been repaired with a root canal.
At times, the damage to a tooth is too severe to salvage it, as in the case of a fracture that reaches a tooth’s roots. Extractions are recommended when that happens. The emergency dentist can perform a simple extraction when the tooth can be pulled out with forceps. Surgical extractions are needed when the dentist needs to make an incision into gum tissues to pull out a tooth. The removed tooth can then be swapped with an oral prosthetic, like an implant crown.
Are you dealing with an injured tooth? Give us a call or stop by our Somerville clinic to set up an appointment with our emergency dentist.
Request an appointment here: https://somervilledentist.com or call Assembly Dental at (857) 300-5779 for an appointment in our Somerville office.
Check out what others are saying about our dental services on Yelp: Emergency Dentist in Somerville, MA.
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