Urgent problems
Emergency Dental Care
Pain, swelling, a tooth broken at the weekend. Call and describe it rather than waiting to see whether it settles.
What counts as urgent
Pain that keeps you awake, swelling of the gum or face, a knocked out or displaced tooth, a tooth broken with a piece missing, bleeding that will not stop, and a lost crown or filling on a tooth that is now sharp or painful. Any of those is worth a phone call the same day rather than a wait and see.
Some things feel like emergencies and are not, and it helps to know which. A chip in the enamel with no pain, a lost filling in a tooth that feels fine, or an ulcer a few days old can wait for a normal appointment. Sensitivity to cold that stops as soon as the cold is removed is usually not urgent. Pain that lingers for minutes after the trigger has gone often is.
What to do before you are seen
For a knocked out adult tooth, time is the thing that matters most. Pick it up by the crown and not the root, rinse it briefly in milk or saline if it is dirty, and if you can, put it back in the socket and bite gently on a clean cloth. If you cannot, keep it in milk and get seen immediately. Do not scrub it, do not let it dry out, and do not do any of this with a baby tooth.
For bleeding after an extraction, bite firmly on rolled gauze or a clean cloth for twenty minutes without checking it every two. For a broken tooth, keep any fragment. For pain, an over the counter painkiller you normally tolerate is reasonable while you wait. Do not hold aspirin against the gum, which burns the tissue and does nothing for the tooth.
Visits, Recovery and When to Call
How to reach the office
By telephone on (718) 961-1234. Describe what happened, when it started, where it hurts and whether there is any swelling. That description is what determines how quickly you need to be seen and what the appointment needs to be set up for.
Office hours
The office is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9:00am to 5:00pm, and on alternate Saturdays from 9:00am to 5:00pm. Call before travelling on a Saturday to check which one is open.
Go to a hospital instead if
Swelling is closing your eye, spreading under the jaw or into the neck, or making it hard to breathe or swallow. Also if there is a fever alongside facial swelling, uncontrolled bleeding, or a suspected broken jaw. Those need emergency medical care rather than a dental appointment.
Why waiting costs more
Dental problems very rarely settle on their own. An infected nerve that stops hurting has usually died rather than healed, and the infection carries on into the bone quietly. A cracked tooth spreads further each time it is chewed on. In both cases the treatment that would have worked in week one is often no longer the treatment available in week six.
Keep reading
Questions About Emergency Dental Care?
Describe the problem on the phone. That conversation is usually enough to work out the first appointment. Mandarin, Taiwanese, English and Japanese are spoken.