Emergency Dental Care in Kitchener

Enamel Republic’s Kitchener Emergency Dentist, Dr. Kyle Hornby, can help you through a wide variety of dental emergencies.  We provide transparent, conservative dental care aimed at educating you about all of your treatment options.  Our Emergency Dental specialist will walk you through your options in a friendly, relaxed, no-pressure atmosphere so that you can decide on the course of action that suits you best!

Below, you’ll find helpful information on a variety of Dental Emergencies that we handle on a daily basis at Enamel Republic in Downtown Kitchener!

Emergency Dental Care for a Broken Tooth or Lost Filling

Treatment for broken teeth and fillings can vary depending on the size and location of the fracture.  In minor cases, a small chip may be adequately treated by smoothing off a small rough or sharp fragment to restore comfort.  In other cases, our Kitchener Emergency Dentist may suggest placement of a dental filling to repair the lost piece of tooth.  When larger fragments are lost, a dental crown or “cap may be required.

Emergency Dental Care for Toothaches and Severe Pain

Toothaches can be caused by a dental abscess or infection, a cracked or broken tooth, or a large cavity.  In some cases, you may experience dental pain but your teeth feel whole or complete with no missing pieces.  Our Kitchener Emergency Dentist, Dr. Kyle Hornby, will be able to use information from and Emergency Dental Exam to determine the source of your toothache and what treatment options will help to get you out of pain.

Common emergency dental treatments for toothache or pain can include a new dental filling, a root canal treatment or tooth removal.  In cases of dental infection, antibiotics can provide almost immediate relief in many cases where more complex future treatment may be required.

Emergency Dental Care for Trauma Injuries

Dental trauma emergencies are quite common and typically involve impact to the face and mouth.  Often this kind of dental emergency results in broken or loosened teeth and sometimes cuts and scrapes on the lips and gums.  The most common causes of dental trauma injuries that we see include trampoline accidents, falling off of bikes, sports injuries (i.e. baseball or soccer ball impact on the face) and toddlers falling early in life.  The most important aspect of managing a dental trauma emergency is quick evaluation and to have any injuries stabilized.

Our Kitchener Emergency Dentist will assess you for soft and hard tissue injuries and determine the best course of action to get you stabilized and healing ASAP.  

In the case of loose teeth, the Emergency Dentist may re-position your teeth in their normal orientation before adding a temporary splint or bonding to stabilize your teeth and improve healing outcomes.

When teeth are knocked out entirely, having your Dentist quickly clean and replant them in their socket can help to increase the chance of a complete and successful healing outcome.

Soft tissue injuries to your gums, lip or cheeks can be managed by cleaning the area and removing any dirt or gravel from scrapes and wounds.  Our Kitchener Emergency Dentist, Dr. Hornby, can also provide suturing or stitching to enable proper healing.

Other Forms of Emergency Dental Care

Patients may also experience less common dental emergencies and our Kitchener Dentist is equipped to help with those as well!

Patients may experience loosening of a dental crown or bridge.  When this happens, it may be possible to re-cement or re-bond the dental prosthesis onto supporting teeth.  In some instances, a dental crown or bridge may come loose as the result of a problem with the supporting tooth/teeth.  In these cases, our Kitchener Emergency Dentist can stabilize the situation for the short-term, while helping you to understand what options you have for a more reliable and long-lasting fix!

Another common dental emergency occurs when patients get food debris stuck under their gums and cannot remove the fragment with toothbrush or floss.  The most common source of this is fragments of popcorn seeds/shells.  These can lodge under the gums very easily and, if left for days, may begin to cause pain or even infection.  If you experience this kind of dental emergency, give us a call as we are able to retrieve submerged food debris and restore comfort to our emergency patients.

Patients may also suffer food trauma or food burn dental emergencies and this may cause significant pain and discomfort.  Oftentimes, patients do not recall the incident that caused the problem and so they may be concerned about feeling pain unexpectedly leading them to call their Kitchener Emergency Dentist.  Oftentimes, no treatment is necessary as these injuries heal quickly on their own.  

Tips & Tricks for Dealing With Dental Emergencies

While it’s essential to have your dental emergency assessed and stabilized as quickly as possible, there are some things you can do at-home to help limit pain, discomfort and inconvenience with certain dental problems.  Here’s a list of great tips for different dental emergencies:

Broken Tooth Or Lost Crown with Sensitivity:

One of the best things for settling tooth pain is Oil of Cloves.  This acts as a natural sedative for nerve pain and can settle discomfort from a broken tooth or other dental emergency very rapidly.  You can pick up Clove Oil at your local health food store or in the Organic/Health section of your local grocery store.

Pain From a Dental Abscess or Swelling:

In some cases of painful tooth infection, you may experience a pus-filled swelling on your gums next to the infected tooth.  This swelling can be very much like a pimple but will usually feel a bit like a water balloon.  If you’re able to squeeze and pop this swollen area it can encourage pus drainage and relief of the intense pressure and pain that it causes.  Then, call your emergency Dentist quickly to arrange and appointment.

Dental Pain after a Recent Filling:

Sometimes, patients may experience mild-moderate achiness in a tooth that’s been worked on recently.  Any time your Dentist works on a tooth, it must heal from the agitation of the dental procedure.  The nerves in your tooth’s interior have lots of tiny extensions that can perceive damage and irritation at distant sites closer to your tooth’s surface.  These same nerves get worked up after dental work and need time to settle.  If you’re experiencing an ache in your tooth, anti-inflammatory medications like Ibuprofen (think Alleve, Motrin, Advil) are superior for getting to the source of your toothache compared to Tylenol (which blocks pain transmission at the level of the brain).  Just make sure you’re safe taking Ibuprofen derivatives which are also known as NSAID drugs.

Broken tooth, filling or Orthodontic Wire:

When things break in the mouth, oftentimes they’re quite sharp and can irritate or even cut your tongue or cheeks.  You can get Orthodontic Wax at your local pharmacy and stash it in your medicine cabinet at home for just these instances.  Placing Orthodontic Wax on a broken tooth or exposed orthodontic wire can limit soft tissue irritation and injury during your dental emergency.

Call our Kitchener Emergency Dentist, Dr. Kyle Hornby, and we will do our very best to see you immediately!