Emergency Dentist in Long Island
If you’re looking for high quality, same day emergency dental care in Suffolk County, Sachem Dental Group is committed to provide you with fast pain relief and treatment.
Dental emergencies can be scary and painful, but with our years of experience and gentle techniques, we can help to put a smile back on your face in no time at all. This may be your first emergency, but it isn’t ours!
Common Types of Dental Emergencies
Over the past 35 years, our multi-specialty general dentists have seen a lot of dental injuries and concerns. In most cases, they’re due to one of the following conditions:
- A Knocked Out Tooth — An elbow during the basketball game, fly ball at the baseball field, or a slip in the bathtub are all it takes to accidentally avulse a tooth. Fast treatment is the most important part of managing such emergencies.
- Broken or Chipped Teeth — Whether you bit down on something you shouldn’t have, or a tooth seemed to break for no good reason, it could be due to an aging restoration, new cavity, or just using your teeth as tools. With timely care, it’s possible to bond the chipped fragment back into place.
- Dental Abscess — An infected nerve can cause swelling inside of the tooth, which creates an abscess near the root tip. Abscessed teeth may be painful or may not have any symptoms other than a small amount of swelling or foul taste near the tooth.
- Crown, Bridge, or Filling Falling Out — Sometimes, dental restorations wear out before you thought they would. Or, you chew something sticky that pulls one out. Recurring decay is one of the most common causes of failing dental work.
- Broken Dentures — If you accidentally dropped your denture or stepped on your partial in the bathroom, it may be damaged too bad to wear. Don’t try to fix it yourself, as it could actually make the problem worse. Bring your prosthesis to our office to see if it can be repaired.
- Something Stuck in the Teeth — Did you catch a piece of floss or have food seem to wedge itself in-between teeth, down under your gums? If left alone, it can become quite bothersome or even create an infection.
Is My Situation a True Emergency?
Sometimes dental injuries are significant, but it’s still uncertain as to whether or not they are considered a true emergency.
If you answer “yes” to any of the following questions, then we need to see you at our Long Island office as soon as possible:
- Are you in pain or severe discomfort that prevents you from eating, biting down, or using your tooth/teeth?
- Is the situation causing embarrassment, such as significant damage to a tooth at the front of your mouth?
- If swelling is involved, is it larger than the size of a small pimple?
- Is your tooth mobile or do you suspect that it is loose?
- Has the tooth been displaced (i.e. shoved back, pushed in, etc.)?
- Did you break an appliance or restoration that is causing discomfort and cannot be removed?
- Is there moderate bleeding?
Didn’t fit one of the criteria? You still may need care in a timely manner. Suffolk County patients can call our office to schedule an appointment at their earliest convenience. Remember, although you might not be in pain, the dental injury will only continue to get worse. Addressing it in a timely manner can reduce the cost and extent of treatment that is necessary.
What to do if You Break or Knock Out a Tooth
As hard as it may sound, if you break or knock out a tooth the best thing to do is to stay calm. Take a deep breath. Next, try to locate the missing tooth fragment. The sooner it’s found, the more likely it is we can re-implant or bond it back into place.
Take care not to handle the tooth by its root, as this can damage the microscopic ligaments that help hold it into your mouth. If it’s covered in dirt or other debris, rinse it gently in tap water and then store it in a sealed container filled with milk, contact solution, or even tucked inside of your cheek to keep it coated in saliva.
Teeth that appear completely whole can be placed back into the socket, if possible. Do not force it into place.
For knocked out teeth, is extremely important that you see our dentist within the first hour. The faster you’re seen, the greater the chance you have to save the tooth. After two hours, the possibility of total tooth preservation goes down.
If bleeding is a problem, apply clean gauze to the area and keep pressure on it until it subsides. Biting down on a tea bag can help. In rare situations where bleeding does not stop, head to the nearest emergency room.
Same Day Emergency Treatment
When you have a toothache or a dental abscess, the faster you can see a dentist, the better off your smile will be. As a multi-specialty family practice, our team of dentists work together to accommodate same day emergency patients as quickly as possible.
The sooner you call our Long Island dentists, the sooner we can see you. We understand that emergencies happen when you least expect them, and that’s why we’re always ready. As soon as we know you’re headed to our office, we will make arrangements for your arrival so that you can be seen as quickly as possible.
Same day emergency appointments are one of the most important services that we provide and we try to accommodate your needs at one of our six locations. Finding an emergency dentist near you should not be a problem with locations in Ronkonkoma, Selden, Holbrook, Patchogue, and Nesconset.
Paying for an Emergency Dental Appointment
Sachem Dental Group works closely with your insurance carrier to help you access all of the benefits included with your plan. If you don’t have coverage, we can also arrange affordable financing options so that you can receive the treatment you need, instead of putting it off.
Contact our Suffolk County dentists today. We’re here to help with your dental emergency, whether you’ve been coming to our office for years or are a first-time patient.