A: You can go to one of the large chain drugstores—Walgreens, CVS, here in Texas, HEB. There you can buy a temporary dental filling cement if you’ve lost a filling or if a crown has come off.
If it’s a hole in the tooth from a cavity, sometimes rubbing Anbesol® will help in there; sometimes it can make it worse.
You kind of have to see what may work for you as it’s only a stopgap measure until the tooth is fixed.
If you have never had the unfortunate luck to have a toothache outside of normal dental office hours you’re lucky. However, you should be prepared if you do experience a similar situation.
We get after-hour bookings all the time for people with a toothache at 7 pm on a weekday. Sunday afternoon they get a sharp pain in their molar. Or, they have a filling fall out and their dentist is booked up.
Whatever the reason may be, it’s good to keep an emergency dentist in San Antonio in your contact list. Although, your toothache may feel like it’s a grave matter because of the pain you feel, that’s not always the case.
Sometimes, as long as there aren’t complications like facial swelling, trouble breathing, or fever, often you can wait for your dentist to open. However, you don’t have to endure the full weight of the pain in some cases.
Some home remedies work very well for some patients to help with the pain temporarily. Just keep in mind, that the toothache will continue to hurt until the problem causing it is fixed.
See An Emergency Dentist In San Antonio Or Ride It Out?
While we understand that your primary goal is to stop the pain ASAP—you have to consider the underlying cause.
When we experience pain, that’s our body’s warning sign to our brain that something is wrong. If you have pain in your tooth or mouth, it’s a sign that something isn’t right. It may need to be addressed sooner than later.
Oral pain can derive from a multitude of issues—some mild, some moderate, and some serious emergencies. Some milder to moderate causes can be:
- Tooth Decay
- Compromised Filling
- Damaged Crown
- Fractured Tooth
For the most part, the above are indeed painful, but not typically life-threatening. Seeking an emergency dentist in San Antonio would be mostly elective in these cases.
However, if any one of these has progressed to the point of causing a tooth abscess—that changes things.
What Is A Tooth Abscess?
A tooth abscess is a pocket of pus that develops beneath the root of your tooth due to a bacterial infection. Usually, the infection is the result of untreated cavities, dental work that has failed, or dental trauma. A tooth abscess will cause you quite a bit of pain in the gums, and teeth, and often will radiate to your inner ear.
A tooth abscess may also be called a periapical abscess by some dentists. A periodontal abscess (gum abscess) occurs next to the tooth root in the gum rather than in the tooth. Tooth abscesses are sometimes called jawbone infections as well. Either version can be extremely painful and without quick treatment—could have severe consequences.
An emergency dentist in San Antonio can drain the infection site from which the puss is originating from. They can then fix the issue with either an extraction or root canal. While there is no homeopathic cure for an abscess, there are remedies that may dull the pain a bit while waiting for treatment.
Symptoms Of A Tooth Abscess
Don’t overlook the severity of this condition. A tooth abscess is a dental emergency and should not be taken lightly. You need to call an emergency dentist in San Antonio right away if you experience any of the following symptoms:
- Consistent throbbing pain in or near the tooth.
- Pain levels escalate if you lie down.
- Tooth pain is so severe that you can’t perform daily functions.
- Radiating pain to other areas of your mouth or other teeth, usually on the same side as the abscess.
Is a tooth abscess an emergency?
Most definitely! a tooth abscess is an infection and it’s a dental emergency due to the potential risk of sepsis. Sepsis is where an infection gets into the bloodstream and spreads rapidly all through your body and vital organs. It can very much be a fatal condition that can be prevented only if the infection is dealt with immediately. Therefore, it’s always important to have the number of emergency dentist in San Antonio in your contacts. You never know when you will need emergency dental care.
Nearly 1-2 million patients go to a hospital emergency room annually in the U.S. for severe dental pain. Almost 40% of those cases end up being the result of an abscess.
However, an emergency room can only treat the infection, not the root cause which is a tooth that needs extraction. It’s better to visit an emergency dentist unless you have trouble breathing due to the pain.
At that point, you should rush to the nearest ER or call an ambulance as the infection could be spreading through your body already.
Treating Less Severe Issues You May Face
If it’s not an abscess you may be suffering from a painful problem, yet not as threatening as a tooth abscess. In cases like these, you can use some home remedies to dull the pain until you can be seen by your dentist.
Cold Compress
In general, you can stop or dull toothache pain in one of two ways. One is to reduce the inflammation while the other is to mask the pain.
The latter is best accomplished with a cold compress applied to the affected area. Make sure to only keep it there for about 20 minutes max before taking a break. Also, make sure you use a washcloth or towel as a buffer to avoid skin damage.
Take An Anti-Inflammatory
To achieve the first method of dulling the pain you can take an anti-inflammatory such as Aleve. Make sure you repeat the dosage every few hours. If you stop taking it once you feel relief the inflammation will set in again and you’re back at one.
Salt Water Rinse
Salt mixed in a glass of warm water aids in cleaning minor infections and offers temporary pain relief for a toothache. This will also help heal any wounds in the mouth that might be contributing to the pain. Just be sure not to swallow the water.
If You Need An Emergency Dentist In San Antonio
Sometimes the home remedies and over-the-counter solutions just aren’t enough to make the pain subside. If you’re unsure of what to do about your toothache or what the cause is you should come see us ASAP.
We offer convenient online booking so you can get in and get seen. Go online and book your appointment at JH Emergency Dental now.
