Emergency Services
To help prevent dental emergencies:
- Wear a mouthguard to help protect your teeth from injury and trauma when playing sport.
- Wear a bite splint if you clench or grind your teeth, especially at night.
- Avoid hard foods such as boiled sweets, unpopped popcorn kernels, bones and ice (and the ends of pens!)
- Do not use your teeth to open bottles, tear open or break things.
Please call (08) 9921 4795 to speak with the on-call dentist.
Chipped or Broken Tooth
- Seek dental treatment immediately to repair the chip and check for other oral injuries.
- The chip may have exposed the nerve of the tooth. The risk of infection is high and needs to be addressed as soon as possible.
- Trauma to the face may have loosened the tooth and may need to be stabilised.
Trauma or Knocked Out Tooth
- Seek dental treatment immediately.
- If it is a baby tooth do NOT replace tooth. For Adult teeth, pick up the tooth by the crown. Avoid touching the root of the tooth.
- If the tooth is dirty, lightly brush it off.
- Replace the tooth immediately. Hold the tooth by the crown and slowly push it back into its socket.
- If the tooth can’t be placed back into the socket, transport the tooth in the mouth or in a small container with saliva (some blood in the saliva is okay) alternatively you can place it in milk, or plastic wrap.
Cracked Tooth
A cracked tooth can display a variety of symptoms including:
- Erratic pain when chewing
- Pain when your tooth is exposed to temperature extremes (hot & cold)
A cracked tooth can involve any section of the tooth, from the chewing surface all the way down to the nerve. A cracked tooth often will need a crown to prevent the crack from getting worse.
You may need a root canal treatment as well if the pulp nerve is damaged.
Tooth Abcess
An abscessed tooth is a serious infection caused by:
- Severe untreated tooth decay
- Decay beneath a deep filling
- Trauma that damages a tooth
- Periodontal disease
The risk of developing a tooth abscess increases if you do not receive treatment for a: cracked tooth, exposed root or deep cavity.
If the abscess is not treated, it can lead to a SERIOUS INFECTION in the jaw bone, teeth and surrounding tissues.
Signs & Symptoms
- Spontaneous pain
- Sensitivity to hot and cold
- Pain when biting or chewing
- Red and swollen gums
- Bad taste in the mouth
- Fever
- Loosening of the tooth
- Oozing of pus
- Facial swelling
- Headaches