Painful toothache keeping you up at night? Knocked out a tooth? Relief is just a phone call away! As a leading emergency dentist in North Myrtle Beach, Beachside Smiles is here to provide immediate dental care for urgent needs.
Some of the most common dental emergencies we treat include knocked-out teeth, abscessed gums, chipped and broken teeth, and toothaches. If you suspect you have a dental emergency, call Beachside Smiles so we can prioritize your care.
To ensure successful reimplantation of the tooth, it is recommended the tooth be reinserted into its socket within 60 minutes. While there are cases of successful reimplantation after remaining outside the socket for three days, the faster you act, the more likely the tooth can be saved. Here’s what to do if you have an avulsed (knocked out) tooth:
The tooth should only be handled by the crown and not the fragile root structure.
Gently try to reinsert the tooth into the socket. If you are successful, you should still schedule an appointment with your dentist. They will most likely advise you to only chew soft foods for the next several weeks.
The next step is to ready the tooth to bring it to our office (or your nearest dental practice). To help keep the tooth alive, you can either tuck it into your cheek or place it in a glass of milk or a paper towel moistened with saliva. The goal is to keep the tooth moist and at a pH within the range of human saliva.
Make a point to visit your dentist as soon as possible. After an hour outside its socket, the odds of saving the tooth begin to lessen. Even if you are successful in reinserting the tooth, you should still schedule a visit so we can track your progress and provide treatments as needed.
If you have a child whose tooth has been knocked out due to dental trauma, it is important to try and reimplant the tooth. That “baby” tooth actually helps form the alveolar ridge of the jaw bone and serves to guide the incoming adult tooth’s orientation. Therefore, getting the tooth back into its socket may just save you the hassle of orthodontic work in the future!
If you have a dental emergency outside of our normal office hours, please contact us via the emergency telephone number provided to you during your first appointment.
