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

  1. Seek dental treatment immediately to repair the chip and check for other oral injuries.
  2. 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.
  3. Trauma to the face may have loosened the tooth and may need to be stabilised.

 

Trauma or Knocked Out Tooth

  1. Seek dental treatment immediately.
  2. 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.
  3. If the tooth is dirty, lightly brush it off.
  4. Replace the tooth immediately. Hold the tooth by the crown and slowly push it back into its socket.
  5. 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