A dental emergency comprises any conditional emergency concerning the teeth, gums, and supporting tissues. As the name suggests, a dental emergency is of high importance and should be treated right away by an experienced dentist. Dental emergencies need not always involve pain, although it is a common sign of dental problems. An emergency dentist in Perth is a highly experienced professional who will be able to help relieve your emergency with the utmost care.
The alarming dental health statistics led the government of Western Australia to develop a Child Dental Benefits Schedule in 2014 as a noble solution to create oral health awareness for children aged up to 17 years in Perth and other cities.
Examples of Dental Emergencies
1 Dental Trauma
Dental trauma is an injury caused to either the hard tissues, soft tissues, or both. This includes the teeth, gums, tongue, lips, and face. Often, dental trauma can lead to:
- Fracture: It involves tooth damage in the form of a crack or fissure.
- Concussion: Injury to the tooth-supporting tissues without displacement of the tooth
- Subluxation: Injury to the tooth-supporting tissues without displacement of the tooth but causes loosening of the tooth
- Extrusion: Partial displacement of the tooth from the socket
- Intrusion: Partial displacement of the tooth inside the socket, causing injury to the tooth-supporting tissues
- Lateral Luxation: Displacement in a lateral direction
- Avulsion: A condition where a tooth is completely displaced out of the socket
2 Restorative Trauma
Restorative trauma includes:
- A fractured, broken, or lost dental filling causes sharp pain and discomfort.
- A cracked or fractured tooth.
- A mobile tooth that causes pain and discomfort should be treated immediately as it can lead to loss of the tooth as well.
- Caries leading to fracture of the tooth crown.
- Poor restorations causing fractures to the crown.
- Incomplete removal of caries leads to secondary caries. Secondary caries causes excruciating pain and should be treated with the utmost care.
- Fracture of the tooth due to parafunctional habits such as clenching or bruxism, which causes excessive loading on the tooth.
- Broken or loose dentures.
- Broken or loose dental implants. Furthermore, loose implants can lead to infections.
3 Orthodontic Emergencies
Orthodontic emergencies include:
- Fractured removable or fixed appliances.
- Loose removable or fixed appliances.
- Loose ligatures can cause lacerations of the soft tissues.
- Protruding archwires lead to trauma to the soft tissues.
4 Acute Conditions
An acute condition is a sudden or abrupt presentation of symptoms that require emergency treatment. These include:
- Orofacial swellings include swelling of any part of the mouth or face, which causes excruciating pain and needs immediate treatment.
- Haemorrhage is uncontrollable postoperative bleeding due to a tooth extraction or facial trauma.
- Trismus is the limited movement of the jaw which can be caused by several reasons, the most common ones being infections, arthritis, trauma to the temporomandibular joint, or traumatic extraction of the third molars.
- Cyst/tumour is a common pathology that can affect the jaws. Untimely treatment of the same can lead to pain and, in some cases, fracture of the jawbones.
- After removal of the tooth, sometimes the clot dislodges, which causes excruciating pain and discomfort, known as a ‘dry socket.’
- Pericoronitis is the inflammation of the soft tissue surrounding the tooth.
- Cellulitis is a serious bacterial infection in the oral and facial regions that can lead to rapid swelling and pain.
- Tooth extraction can lead to immediate postoperative pain due to improper removal of the tooth or fracture of the tooth socket.
In Conclusion
With a track record of 3 out of 10 people in Perth avoiding seeing a dentist, an emergency dentist is exactly what you might need to provide dental care for various dental emergencies. If you need to visit an emergency dentist in Perth, you will be at ease knowing there are multiple clinics with one. The dental clinics in Perth have friendly and highly trained teams who will be able to help with your dental emergency.
