Emergency Dentist Beaverton
Quality Care for Urgent Dental Issues
Dental emergencies tend to strike without warning, and when they do, they often result in severe discomfort and damage. These types of dental issues should not go untreated for too long, which is why it’s recommended that you call Caring Smiles Dental right away to schedule an emergency dentistry appointment. Dr. Appelhans and the rest of our Beaverton dental team will work quickly to help get you out of your pain and restore your oral health.
Why Choose Caring Smiles Dental for Emergency Dentistry?
- Wide Range of Treatment Options
- Friendly Team That Puts Patients First
- Modern Dental Office with the Latest Technology
How We Treat Dental Emergencies
- Schedule an Appointment: When a dental emergency occurs, your first step should be to call our office. Our helpful team members can provide any first-aid tips that might be applicable to your situation and make arrangements to see you as quickly as possible.
- Emergency Exam: At your emergency appointment, we’ll take X-rays as needed and carefully examine your teeth and gums. Our goal will be to figure out what’s causing the problem and how severe the damage is.
- Review Findings: Upon completing our emergency examination, we will walk you through our findings and explain what treatments are the best fit for your specific situation. You’ll always be given an estimate of the timeline and cost of a given treatment before you need to commit to it.
- Give Your Smile the Care It Needs: Once you’ve agreed to a treatment plan, our team will take whatever steps have been deemed necessary to resolve your dental emergency and help you enjoy a healthy smile again.
The Most Common Dental Emergencies
The term “dental emergency” can be used to describe a wide range of oral health issues. No matter what form your emergency takes, it’s essential to seek the care your smile needs as soon as possible. Listed below are some examples of common emergencies that our team is ready to help treat.
Understanding the Cost of Emergency Dentistry
Oftentimes, patients are worried about the cost of emergency dentistry. Rest assured, we’ll make sure that you have an accurate estimate of the price before we provide the necessary restorative or cosmetic care. We’ll also explain your options for making your care more affordable, including dental insurance. If you are interested in learning more in the meantime, however, you can read on!
Why Every Dental Emergency is Different
The reason we can’t provide you with an accurate estimate of the cost is that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all treatment! Once you arrive at our office, your emergency dentist in Beaverton will learn about your symptoms, alleviate any pain you’re experiencing, and complete a comprehensive oral exam. Once Dr. Appelhans has pinpointed the root of the problem, she will share her findings, discuss your treatment options, and share her recommendations. Then, she will solidify the details of your treatment plan and share the price.
Does Dental Insurance Cover Dental Emergencies?
Some dental insurance providers do cover one emergency exam per year. Not only that, but many plans have a 100-80-50 coverage structure, which means that they cover between 50% and 80% of the cost of essential restorative care. That translates into quite a lot of savings! So, don’t hesitate to provide us with your membership information when you call to schedule your appointment or once you arrive at our office. From there, we can take a look at the fine print on your plan, discuss your coverage, and help you utilize any available benefits that you have.
Other Options for Making Dental Emergencies Affordable
It’s estimated that roughly 50% of patients don’t have dental insurance. If you’re one of them, you’ll be happy to hear that there’s another way you can make the cost of your care more affordable: CareCredit. This trusted third-party financier offers convenient payment plans (many of which have little-to-no interest attached). As a result, you don’t have to stress about paying for your treatment in one lump sum. Instead, you can break it up into smaller, more manageable chunks over the course of several months.
How Taking Care Of Your Smile Can Save You Money
It’s important to remember that many dental injuries grow worse if they aren’t treated. That’s why we advise against taking the “wait and see” approach. The sooner you come to our office, the sooner we can address the root of the problem, alleviating your pain and preventing more complex issues down the line.
We also need to mention here that many common dental problems are largely preventable. So, if you want to protect your smile and your wallet from harm, you need to incorporate healthy habits into your daily routine, like brushing your teeth twice a day and limiting your intake of added sugar.
Keys to Preventing Dental Emergencies
While we at Caring Smiles Dental are always happy to see our patients, it’s always better to prevent an oral health emergency than have to suffer and seek treatment for it. Thankfully, it’s easy to adopt a few smart habits that will considerably reduce your risk of developing oral infections and sustaining dental injuries. Here’s a quick look at a few great ways to keep your smile happy and healthy, but please contact our office in Beaverton if you’d like to know more.
Visit Your Dentist Regularly
The American Dental Association recommends seeing your dentist every six months for routine exams and cleanings. These regular appointments allow the team at Caring Smiles Dental to monitor your oral health, address problems in their early stages, and recommend better hygiene habits for you to practice at home. Seeing us twice a year is an excellent way to minimize your risk of experiencing a dental emergency.
Maintain Good Oral Hygiene at Home
Your daily oral hygiene regimen is your first line of defense against the harmful oral bacteria that cause tooth decay and gum disease. To keep your smile clean and healthy, be sure to brush at least twice, floss at least once, and rinse with antibacterial mouthwash every day.
Stick to a Nutritious Diet
Like all the other parts of your body, your teeth and gums need proper nutrition to stay in good shape. Be sure to enjoy plenty of items that are high in calcium, phosphorus, protein, and vitamins C and D while minimizing your intake of sugars, starches, and acids that can feed the nasty bacteria that cause tooth decay and gum disease.
Wear a Mouthguard
When playing sports or riding a bike, be sure to wear an athletic mouthguard that can protect your smile from injury. If you grind your teeth in your sleep, it’s important to wear a nightguard designed to protect your enamel from unnecessary wear. The team at Caring Smiles Dental can set you up with a customized protective appliance that offers superior protection.
Use Tools to Open Packages, Not Your Teeth
Using your teeth to open packages or bottles is an excellent way to chip, crack, or otherwise destroy them. To prevent this, it’s best to invest in a suitable tool such as a box cutter or a bottle opener. It’s also important to refrain from chewing on inedible materials like wood, plastic, metal, ice, and fingernails.
Dental Emergency FAQs
Do toothaches go away on their own?
Developing sudden, persistent, or severe discomfort in one or more teeth is a chief complaint among patients seeking emergency dental visits. With that said, some patients assume that their toothache will eventually fade on its own, as bruises or headaches often do.
But the truth is that oral issues usually don’t resolve on their own and require professional assessment and treatment. The sooner you contact our office for an appointment, the faster we can identify the root concern and provide a customized treatment plan for some well-earned relief.
How can I sleep with tooth pain?
Our office in Beaverton is open Monday through Thursday from 8-5 so you can make appointments at a time that works for you. But if you develop an oral issue at night or over the weekend, outside of normal business hours, you might have to wait to contact us.
Toothaches are notorious for making it hard to fall or stay asleep, which can interfere with your body’s immune response. Thankfully, there are things you can do that might help you get a solid night’s rest, such as:
- Elevate your head. Propping yourself up on several pillows or drifting off in your favorite recliner keeps your head above your heart, which prevents additional blood from pooling painfully against the root of your already tender tooth.
- Apply a cold compress. Placing an ice pack to the sore side of your face for about 15 minutes can induce a temporary numbing sensation.
- Try over-the-counter meds. Taking the recommended dosage of ibuprofen or acetaminophen can reduce aches and inflammation.
Should I visit for minor chips in my teeth?
You might think that a small chip in your enamel is no big deal, but the truth is that it might extend deeper into the root of your tooth or beneath your gumline than you can see. Unfortunately, even minor damage to the structure of your teeth makes it easier for harmful bacteria to penetrate them and cause dental problems, such as cavities or gum disease.
Contact our team as soon as possible to let us know what happened, and we’ll schedule an appropriate time to see you based on your circumstances. Then, Dr. Appelhans will devise a customized treatment plan, such as dental bonding or placing a crown, based on the findings of her examination.
Are knocked-out baby teeth a dental emergency?
Some well-meaning parents and guardians wonder whether it’s considered urgent if one of their child’s baby teeth is knocked out. It’s easy to think that it’s not such a big deal because they eventually fall out to make room for the adult teeth to arrive.
However, the truth is that premature loss of primary teeth can affect how their permanent ones develop and grow. Not only that, but the remaining teeth are prone to drifting out of alignment to fill the space. Fortunately, Dr. Appelhans has experience working with patients of all ages and provides sedation to help even the most anxious kids through their emergency examination and treatment.