Providing Comprehensive Emergency Dental Services in Pasadena
In a perfect world, you’d always be ready for the unexpected, but accidents can, will, and do happen at any time. When an unforeseen situation results in a dental emergency, not only can it impact your day-to-day, but the situation can be downright frightening. Luckily, experienced and compassionate dentists, Dr. Vincent Spero and Dr. Farrah Koutcheck are equipped to handle your emergency!
At Pasadena Smiles, we believe in providing truly comprehensive dental care when you need it most. By prioritizing treatment with emergency appointments available seven days a week, including weekends, you have access to emergency dental care 24 hours a day. Don’t wait! If you suspect you need urgent treatment, contact us. Our dentists make themselves available to provide you with the skilled and effective care you deserve!
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Understanding Why Emergency Dental Care is Important
It’s common knowledge that teeth and gums are strong, both designed to endure the constant strain of everyday use. While a diligent oral health routine and regularly-scheduled dental visits are always encouraged, teeth and gums can still be impacted by injury, infection, decay, and trauma. Mild irritation in the gums or a tiny crack in your enamel can develop into more serious complications, which can jeopardize your smile if given the time to progress.
Tender gums, no matter how mild, are a common early warning sign of developing gum disease, an oral infection that attacks the gum and soft tissue responsible for keeping your natural teeth in place. Tooth sensitivity, discomfort, or pain are common symptoms of an infection entering the inner chambers of your tooth, a situation where bacteria could spread to your neighboring teeth and other areas throughout your body.
These situations and many other oral health concerns can pose serious threats to your smile, whole-body health, and quality of life. With emergency dental care, our team can treat these problems with swift and effective intervention, helping restore overall health, happiness, and normalcy once more.
What Are Considered Dental Emergencies?
The following are seven of the most common dental emergencies Drs. Spero and Koutchek work to address:
- Knocked out or avulsed tooth
- Severely cracked, fractured or broken tooth
- Swollen, bleeding, or abscessed gums
- Debilitating toothache from advanced decay or infection
- Swelling in the cheeks or face
- Jaw pain
- Lost, broken, or dislodged restoration
It is important to remember that no pain does not mean no problem! If you’ve recently suffered an injury to the teeth, gums, or other areas of the mouth and the pain subsided, we highly recommend you contact our office right away. Often, the discomfort will come back, likely as the result of an infection or other potentially serious problem.
How We Help You During an Emergency
Our Pasadena dental team understands just how anxiety-ridden and frightening an unforeseen situation can be, especially when it involves an injury to the smile. This is why Drs. Spero and Koutchek insist on not only providing emergency dental care every day of the week, but do so in an attentive, comprehensive, and compassionate manner.
Along with our passion for helping others, our office is equipped to handle your situation with advanced diagnostic technology and modern treatment techniques, which are complemented by a whole-body patient-focused approach. When you contact Pasadena Smiles with a dental emergency, we go the extra mile in helping you receive the skilled dentistry you need as quickly as possible without compromising the quality of our care. With appointment times available seven days a week, including weekends, we can better ensure your dental health needs receive timely and effective treatment.
Evaluating Your Situation with Efficiency and Compassion
As soon as you arrive at our office, our team gets to work to determine the source of your emergency and any pain or discomfort you’re feeling. Our personable and compassionate staff will help guide you through the initial steps of your appointment. This includes asking the right questions and documenting your answers, as well as helping you get prepped for a series of x-rays if needed.
Once these steps are complete, any images are immediately uploaded to our computer, so our dentists can determine your situation as quickly and effectively as possible. Then, once you’re comfortably seated in the dental chair, Dr. Spero or Dr. Koutchek will do a gentle examination using special tools and a keen eye to locate the problem. We will determine out how it started and verify the level of severity and urgency. If you’re experiencing pain, our team will work immediately to alleviate it.
Recommending the Best Course of Action to Meet Your Needs
When determining which procedures will best restore your smile back to its optimal health and function, our dentists will analyze several factors. Aspects such as advanced tooth decay, underlying infection, damage, or trauma help us determine how to address your emergency. Once we’ve verified the cause, Dr. Spero and Koutchek will work with you to create an effective treatment plan to get you back to health and confidence once more.
Our Solutions for Treating Your Dental Emergency
For Knocked Out or Avulsed Teeth: If a sports injury or other trauma has knocked out a permanent tooth or has caused a tooth to become dislodged, treatment should begin within a half an hour to increase your chances of success. If for whatever reason, your tooth can’t be saved, our dentists offer both traditional and implant-supported crown restorations to replace the missing tooth.
For Tooth Infection or Decay: If addressed in its earliest stages, a simple filling can effectively repair decay. However, if an infection has reached the nerves and blood vessels inside the pulp of your tooth, treatment with root canal therapy will be necessary. Our experienced dentists are also highly-skilled in performing successful root canal procedures. In many cases, root canal therapy is the best course of action to prevent extraction. In cases where infected teeth are determined unsalvageable, Drs. Spero and Koutchek will perform gentle tooth extractions.
For Gum Tissue Abscesses: If you have tooth pain and notice pimple-like swelling under your tooth, it is likely an abscess. This means an infection has entered the area which can threaten the current tooth, surrounding teeth, and gum tissue. If the infection spreads, it can impact your overall health as well. If this sounds like your situation, call our Pasadena team immediately, so that we can begin treating the abscess and stop the spread of infection.
For Severely Fractured or Broken Teeth: Severely fractured, or badly broken teeth will likely need extraction. However, chips and smaller cracks can be treated successfully with crowns, fillings, or veneers.
For Broken, Dislodged, Lost Restorations: Difficulties with crowns, bridges, or denture restorations require immediate treatment to prevent damage to your dentition. If your restoration is not salvageable, we can produce a replacement to provide you with the same level of renewed function, health, and beauty.
How Can I Prepare for My Emergency Visit?
When an unexpected situation happens, fast and calm action can help make all the difference when it comes time for our team to treat your smile. If a tooth is broken or has been knocked out, collect it and any broken pieces quickly. Be sure to rinse it off and store it in a clean glass of water or milk. Never handle the tooth by the root, as this can damage the nerve endings. If possible, you can try placing the tooth to the empty socket. If this is not possible, store it until you can see us.
To treat pain, apply an ice pack to your face, outside the affected area. You may combine this with a pain reliever, taking the medication as directed. If there is bleeding in your mouth or gums, place a clean, dry cotton ball or piece of gauze to the area and bite down to apply enough pressure to keep it in place. For continued bleeding, be sure change out the cotton or gauze until your visit. If taking pain relievers, avoid aspirin, as it is a blood thinner, and its effect can possibly make the bleeding worse.
How Can I Protect My Smile from Emergency Situations in the Future?
In addition to relieving pain and discomfort, our dentists walk you through every aspect of your treatment, always emphasizing education so that you stay in control of your oral health. We show you how taking preventive steps at home with your oral hygiene routine can help your smile stay healthy.
Below are some helpful preventive steps our dentists recommend you take to help protect your smile from accidents and injuries:
- Limit your consumption of sticky, sugary, and starchy foods
- Brush twice a day
- Floss at least once a day
- Rinse with mouthwash every day and night
- During sports or high-intensity workouts, wear a mouth or jaw guard
- Invest in a dental emergency kit to keep on hand at home
- See our dentists regularly for oral health exams and dental cleanings at least twice a year
Skilled Emergency Dental Care ~ 24 Hours a Day, Seven Days a Week
When a dental emergency strikes, knowing you have a team of experienced and compassionate professionals on your side to provide you with the prompt care you need helps make all the difference! Regardless if you feel your circumstance is serious or not, Dr. Vincent Spero and Dr. Farrah Koutchek encourage you to contact our Pasadena team right away.
At Pasadena Smiles, not only do we provide prompt treatment, our dentists work hard to protect your oral health through preventive treatments and procedures. If you live in Pasadena, or in any of the surrounding communities of Los Angeles County, and need emergency dental care, please call our office today to set up your appointment.
CALL OUR PRACTICE REQUEST APPOINTMENT