While it’s impossible, of course, to prevent every dental emergency, there are some helpful preventative measures you can take to help thwart a dental emergency before it occurs.
Keep Your Checkups
Various dental problems often go unnoticed without professional dental care. That’s why it’s crucial to come in every six months to get your teeth checked. Doing so can help prevent a dental emergency before it occurs. By detecting issues like cavities, decay or abscesses in their earliest stages, we can often address the problems before they turn into more complex and often costlier ones.
Your Teeth Aren’t Tools
You may think, why use scissors, when your teeth can do the trick when it comes to opening packages? The problem is using your teeth as tools can lead to chipping or breaking your tooth. Instead, use scissors and save your smile.
Avoid Chewing Hard Substances
Whether you like to chew on ice or enjoy hard candy such as peanut brittle, those substances can wreak havoc on your teeth. You also should avoid consuming sticky or sugary foods or beverages as doing so can result in tooth decay.
Wear a Mouthguard
It’s common to see many patients at our practice who come in with sports-related oral injuries. Often, children will be playing a contact sport such as football, hockey or lacrosse while not wearing a mouthpiece. They may get elbowed in the face or hit in the mouth with a ball. The result could be a broken tooth or lip or a cut inside the mouth.
Other patients often grind their teeth while they sleep without even realizing it. Grinding not only can damage the tooth, but it also can cause toothaches.
The good news is you can get a professionally made, custom-fitted mouthguard that can protect your smile—whether you’re an athlete or teeth grinder.
If you’re experiencing a dental emergency during our office hours, contact us today.