Yes, even if you don’t have dental insurance, it can be worth the minimal investment to pay for preventative care services like checkups and cleanings on a routine basis. With ongoing exams and prevention-based strategies, you can limit the risk of developing treatments that require a bigger investment to address.

Our family dentist in Calgary will file your insurance on your behalf, to help you access the coverage you’re entitled to. That way if you have a sudden toothache or dental emergency that needs treatment the same day, you don’t have to delay your care.

A common misconception about the cost of emergency dental treatment is that if the tooth doesn’t hurt, you can put the procedure off. Unfortunately, delaying necessary treatment can lead to compounded issues and additional treatment needs. So instead of only needing a small filling, that cavity has now evolved into an abscessed tooth that requires a root canal. It’s cheaper to correct it earlier on.

If you’re out of town, experiencing a dental emergency in the middle of the night, or find yourself in a situation such as an abscessed tooth, you might be tempted to head straight to urgent care or the hospital. Unfortunately, medical offices such as urgent care and emergency rooms aren’t usually equipped to handle dental emergencies. Rather, they would simply address any symptoms of pain and then refer you to a general dentist for a follow up.

What most people don’t realize is that they can contact our Calgary emergency dentist at any time, even if they’ve never been to our office before. In most cases, we can arrange to fit you into our schedule on the same day. At that point we’ll address the cause of your pain and then discuss what can be done to correct the issue.

The only time we recommend people go to a medical facility for a dental emergency is if there’s an obvious jaw fracture, uncontrollable bleeding, or facial swelling. Such complications require specialist intervention to prevent further complications.

Any type of tooth pain that comes on suddenly and severely is considered an acute dental emergency. Some examples would be a cracked tooth, broken filling, large cavity, dental abscess, localized periodontitis (gum disease) or ulcer of some sort.

The difference between an acute and chronic dental infection is that something chronic may be more of a dull pain or a situation that’s been ongoing for quite some time. For instance, generalized periodontal disease, gum recession and bone loss, tooth mobility, halitosis, ongoing tooth abscesses, etc.

People might be more likely to see our Calgary emergency dentist if they’re experiencing an acute dental infection, simply because of the pain involved and inability to eat normally. But chronic dental concerns deserve just as much attention, because they can alter the health and integrity of surrounding teeth.

If you’re seeing us for acute dental pain, the first thing we’ll likely do is numb the tooth to alleviate any discomfort. From there, we can further evaluate what’s going on and discuss viable options to address your pain and keep it from coming back. This process might involve an interim treatment until you can return for a more long-term restorative plan.

Any time there’s a serious infection going on inside of your mouth, you probably feel inclined to ask about treating it with an antibiotic. In reality, antibiotics only address the immediate bacterial infection but do not prevent it from coming back. So, whatever is causing the pain or infection can keep recurring if you don’t combine the antibiotic medication with a therapeutic or restorative treatment.

Take abscessed teeth for example. The painful fistula (swollen pimple) on your gums goes down when you take an antibiotic. But the medication doesn’t keep bacteria from re-entering the tooth, so the abscess will come back a few weeks later. The only way to combat the cause of your tooth pain would be to go in and remove the damaged nerve then fill in the canal during an endodontic (root canal) procedure.

It’s the same with gum disease. Antibiotics will initially reduce the pain and swelling, but they don’t physically decrease the calcified bacterial deposits under your gums. Instead, those need to be cleaned away. No antibiotic is strong enough to keep a tooth infection from coming back.

Common dental emergencies include knocked-out teeth, broken or chipped teeth, abscesses, toothaches, and broken fillings. Any type of dental pain or issue that’s keeping you from your normal daily activities (such as going to work or school or being able to eat) is a dental emergency. When in doubt, it’s best to call our Calgary emergency dentist to determine if you need same day care.

Sometimes dental emergencies are cosmetic in nature, such as a broken front tooth or having a crown/filling fall off, leaving a visible void when you smile. Even if you’re not in pain, the situation can impact your day-to-day lifestyle and you need to seek emergency care.

If you’re experiencing swelling around your tooth but you’re not in pain, it’s still important to have your tooth evaluated before the infection has an opportunity to spread elsewhere. In rare circumstances, swelling can even spread further into your face, resulting in a medical emergency. When you see our emergency dentist in Calgary, we’ll provide you with viable options to treat the situation at hand.

Abscessed teeth can range from extremely painful to completely asymptomatic (no signs of pain whatsoever.) As soon as you start to notice a small pimple or “fistula” on your gums, you should contact our emergency dentist in Calgary to have it examined. We’ll take a small X-ray and then determine if the nerve of the tooth is infected.

Unless you’re in severe pain, treating the gum abscess is usually scheduled out for a separate date. In some situations, we’ll prescribe antibiotics to reduce the extent of swelling and infection prior to the procedure. This is especially important if we feel that the tooth will be difficult to numb.

However, there are always exceptions. If you have a gum abscess come on quite suddenly, you might be in severe pain. Symptoms include a bad taste in your mouth, sharp pain when eating, or throbbing in your mouth. It’s best to call our Calgary dentist the same day for advice on what to do next. — we may need to see you right away!