Dental emergencies are an unfortunate fact of life. You're eating something crunchy, and suddenly a tooth cracks or you wake up in the morning with swelling and pain in your jaw. Many people head straight to the emergency room when they have tooth pain. The problem is that this is inefficient and usually not very helpful.
Most emergency rooms aren't set up to handle dental emergencies. They might be able to give you some antibiotics if an infection is causing your pain, but they will still advise you to see your dentist as soon as possible. For this small service, you are likely to be hit with a huge co-pay or bill.
Call our office instead.
We'll get you in quickly, relieve your pain, and come up with a treatment plan for your problem. This saves you both money and time, not to mention days of dental pain.
Of course, if you are experiencing a life-threatening emergency, please call 911 or go to your local emergency room.
What are the most common reasons that people need emergency dental care?
Sudden tooth pain – Significant tooth pain with no apparent cause results in many emergency dental visits. You should never ignore tooth pain because it is usually a symptom of many serious dental conditions, including:
We can treat these conditions promptly to prevent further damage to the tooth and keep the infection from spreading.
Chipped or fractured teeth – Chipped or broken teeth can be caused by sudden mouth trauma or simply biting down on a hard object. Sometimes this happens because you had a cavity and didn't know it, and the internal structure has been weakened. If possible, keep the broken piece of the tooth and bring it with you to your appointment.
Lost teeth – Whether your tooth was knocked out due to an injury or you lost a tooth for no apparent reason, losing a tooth is a critical dental emergency. In some cases, we can replace the tooth if we get to it quickly, but we may have to replace the tooth with a dental implant or a bridge.
Our chances of saving the tooth are best if you retrieve the tooth and quickly rinse it with lukewarm water, avoiding the root area. Try to replace the tooth in the socket, but don't force it. If you can't replace the tooth, keep it in a glass of milk or saliva. Call our office immediately.
Dr. Alec Dancy brings a thoughtful, relationship-centered approach to dentistry at Hickory Ridge Dental. He believes that great dental care goes beyond treating teeth—it’s about building lasting connections with patients and helping them feel genuinely cared for each time they visit.
Dr. Dancy earned his undergraduate degree from The Johns Hopkins University in 2011 and his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from the University of Maryland Baltimore School of Dentistry in 2016. He then completed a one-year General Practice Residency at Christiana Hospital in Wilmington, Delaware, gaining advanced experience in comprehensive ...
Some other problems that require prompt emergency dental treatment include: 
Call our office for an appointment for any dental emergency.
Rotary endodontics uses flexible precision instruments to improve root canal treatment outcomes and the patient experience. By using this advanced technology, the need for root canal retreatment is reduced, and the entire process takes less time.
If you are in pain, then you are having a dental emergency. Call us right away so that we can examine you, diagnose the problem, and create a treatment plan. Other signs that indicate the need for an emergency appointment include: