Dental emergencies can be very frightening when they occur, simply because people don’t know what to do in such a situation. In determining what a dental emergencies really is, some factors must be taken into consideration, in order to get a dentist in Baltimore, MD out of bed at night for instance. The types of injuries that would qualify as a dental emergency must be defined.
A dental abscess can rear its ugly head very suddenly sometimes. It can be the result of poor dental care that has lasted over a period of time, and perhaps a cavity has been allowed to rot right through the pulp of the tooth. If the problem gets serious enough, the abscess can form, and it can become very serious in a hurry.
A lost filling may not seem serious at the time, but without the filling, the tooth is vulnerable to decay right away. If that situation occurs, the person should visit the dentist in order to have an assessment done to determine the severity of the situation. Then a decision can be expertly made as to treatment.
A broken, missing, or a chipped tooth, perhaps due to a sports injury or an accident should obviously be taken care as soon as possible. A misaligned tooth that is knocked loose, or knocked out of its socket would fall into this category as well. The issues here can be most serious, because it could involve the jaw and other parts of the mouth and facial bones. Each particular injury will have its own particularly specific treatment and repair strategy. A knocked out or a loose tooth, for example can be reinserted and braced, if the individual gets to the dentist soon enough.
Many people will avoid going to the dentist in an emergency situation because of the perceived cost, not realizing the long term effects that can occur, by ignoring the injury, particularly if the pain is not too great, or subsides.