Until you can go to the dentist, it’s best to slide warm, salty water around in your mouth. A good mix is half a teaspoon of table salt to 8 ounces of water. Spit it out, don’t swallow it. You can also gently floss around the painful tooth to remove any stuck food particles.
After the cold pack, you can use heat therapy in the form of a heat pack such as a warm, wet towel or a damp heating pad. Heat also helps reduce the discomfort caused by toothache as it increases blood flow to the area, making fluid less likely to build up in the tissues. Temperature therapy alternates heat and cold in order to be able to make optimal use of both. A painful tooth or persistent mouth discomfort should be your first warning sign that you need to see your dentist.
Often, prolonged pain in our smiles can mean the presence of tooth decay or a dental infection. The obvious solution to any type of toothache is to see a dentist as soon as possible. However, if you can’t go to your dentist right away, you may have to endure some ailments in the meantime. The following tips can help you minimize toothache while you wait for your dental appointment.
Dentists often leave time slots for emergency patients, so you may be able to make a same-day appointment. Regardless of the cause of your toothache, it’s important to see your local dentist for a checkup. Dentists occasionally use cold laser phototherapy along with other treatments to reduce inflammation and pain. More severe toothaches are caused by dental and oral problems that do not get better on their own and must be treated by a dentist.
If your dentist isn’t available in an emergency, it’s important that you know how to reduce pain and protect yourself from infections. The American Dental Association recommends that any bothersome toothache be examined by a dentist immediately. If a dentist isn’t available and you have a fever or swelling under your eye, cheek, or under your throat along with toothache, go to a hospital emergency center or emergency room, as you may need to start an antibiotic right away. In the latter case, your dentist may decide to prescribe pain relievers to help you cope with the discomfort while you wait.
But even if the tooth doesn’t hurt, it’s important to see your dentist as soon as possible because the longer you wait, the more complex (and expensive) the treatment needed to repair your tooth can be. If you ever experience persistent tooth sensitivity, toothache, pain when chewing, or swelling, these could all be signs of advanced tooth decay or an infected tooth that needs to be treated by a dentist as soon as possible. Over-the-counter pain relievers can help you feel good while you wait to be seen by your dentist for an emergency appointment. Read on to find out what symptoms to look out for when it comes to damaging toothache and when you should wait before making an emergency appointment.
Regardless of how effectively you can treat a toothache, the only real relief is seeing your dentist and fixing the source of the problem. So don’t waste time making an appointment.
